Gender Pay Gap Bill is a government priority – Corcoran Kennedy

A new Bill designed to tackle the gender pay gap has been added to the Government’s priority legislation programme, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy was speaking after the Government announced its legislation programme for the summer session, which included the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill on the list of priority legislation.

The priority list, published this week by Government (Tue 2^nd April) comprises legislation from 13 Government departments and focuses on areas including housing, climate action and the environment, healthcare, social welfare, gender equality, regional employment and judicial matters.

“It is great to see the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill listed as priority legislation on the Government’s Programme for the Summer Session”, said Deputy Corcoran Kennedy.

“This legislation is badly needed in our efforts to tackle the gender pay gap. Research from recruitment company CPL here in Ireland showed that Ireland saw its gender pay gap widen from 12% in 2014 to 14% in late 2017.

“The Oireachtas Women’s Caucus, of which I am Deputy Chair, has been working on this issue for some time.

“The new legislation will establish a mandatory reporting obligation on companies to report on their gender pay differences. Transparency in pay is key to closing the gender pay gap.

“Heads of the Bill were approved by Government on the 26^th of June last year and pre legislative scrutiny has also taken place. I am delighted the Bill has now been added to the Government priority list and will be published and introduced in this Oireachtas session between now and the summer. I look forward to working on the Bill when it comes to the Dáil,” concluded Deputy Corcoran Kennedy.