The Bill applies to all employees who meet the definition of employee under the Employment Equality Act. It is important to state that anybody who qualifies under that definition is protected under this legislative measure. As Senators know, that is a broad definition. In terms of the detail that is required of employers in the types of analyses they will be undertaking and publishing on their own pay practices, in section 20A(1)(b)(i) to (viii) there is a detailed range of points upon which employers must report. …

I take on board the points on the success of Athena Swan. I know from my previous job in DCU the efforts made and the drive to achieve success there. It is undertaken in many third level institutions. A voluntary charter of this nature is significant and we can learn from it, particularly in the public service. In the context of trying to get the balance between ensuring the data and information about salaries, which is obviously very personal to individuals, remain anonymised, particularly in those smaller employe…

I thank Senator Higgins. Like her, I have spoken to the FSU about this Bill. I met it a number of weeks ago and it is pleased to see it advanced. As the Senator said, her amendment addresses two issues, namely, information on the difference between males and females regarding shares as part of a remuneration package and tax relief as part of the SARP. I understand what she is seeking to achieve. It is very valid to raise concerns on those particular points. In terms of engaging with my officials, there are some iss…

The Senator has set out the complexity of the issue we are trying to address. I am always happy to engage with her on matters of detail. I am committed to looking at this matter in the context of the regulations. To reassure Senators, we are bringing forward this legislation and the subsequent regulations in order for them to work. We want this to work and we want to stop the manner in which a certain number of employers are able to skirt and circumvent normal pay practices by benefiting male employees over female …

I thank Senator Bacik for the detail in these amendments and in so many of the amendments she has proposed today. As I said to a gentleman in Sandymount yesterday, it would almost be a pity to lose her from this august House. Indeed, I said that to quite a few ladies and gentlemen in Sandymount yesterday. I appreciate what the Senator is trying to do by strengthening the role of trade unions in this process. Of course, trade unions have an incredibly important role in the context of vindicating the rights of worker…

I thank the Senator. The proposed amendment to section 2 seeks to delete the words "(if any)" with regard to the publication of reasons, in the employer's opinion, for any gaps and of the measures, if any, that an employer is taking, or proposes to take, to eliminate or reduce gaps. The purpose of the words "(if any)" is to provide for circumstances where there are no measures that can be taken by a particular employer to eliminate or reduce the gender pay gap. In this particular Bill, we have to allow for the fact…

I come back to my earlier point that we are not entering this process in a de minimis way. We are seeking to be progressive and have broad regulations. I do not read the text to which the Senator refers as having a chilling effect. It is prudent to have a clause such as this. I certainly do not see it as one that will in any way limit our ambition to achieve pay equality between male and female employees. The purpose of section 20A(2) is to ensure that when the Minister is making regulations, he or she has regard t…

I thank the Senators. We are dealing with a number of proposals in this section including: reducing the reporting exemption for employers with more than 50 employees to employers with more than 20 employees; reducing the reporting period for employers with more than 150 employees from three years of the making of the first regulations, to two years; reducing the reporting period for employers of more than 250 employees from two years of the making of the first regulations, to 12 months; and requiring employers with…

I thank the Senators for those comments. I understand it is the intention of Senators to ensure the reporting requirement is as robust, broad and far-reaching as possible. That is an intention I also share. Subsections (4) to (9) of section 28 are drafted in a way to allow for flexibility when drafting the regulations should that flexibility be needed. It is important the regulations will need to be clear and specific. It is my intention they will contain all the information listed in subsections (4) to (9) unless …

I understand the Senators' intention in tabling this amendment. Our intention is to ensure the reporting requirements are as far reaching as possible but it is important to note, within the context of this legislation, that no other class of employer other than by reference to size is explicitly referred to in this Bill. The Bill sets out the regulations that may prescribe the classes of employer to which the regulations may apply. The intention is the regulation will apply to all classes of employer, including ind…

This amendment to subsection (5) of section 28 seeks to provide specific information regarding the manner in which the gender pay gap information is published by inserting text that will ensure the regulations provide, that where an employer maintains a website, for the publication of information on that website. I have spoken to this already. The regulations will set out a clear requirement for employers on how and where to publish this information and websites seem a very likely place for that. We are looking int…

This amendment to section 20A(5) seeks to ensure that the reporting of gender pay gap information by employers occurs annually. The subsection as drafted provides some assurance to employers that the requirement to report will not be less than annually. While it is my intention that reporting will be annually, though, the subsection provides the level of flexibility that I referred to earlier and allows for some information to be set out in the regulations rather than in the Bill itself. It is my intention to set o…

The purpose of this amendment is to deem a person holding office in or employed in the service of a public body as an employee of that public body for the purposes of reporting gender pay gaps. I understand Senator Bacik's intention to ensure that the reporting requirement is as broad as possible. However, similar to amendment No. 23 on legal partnerships or multidisciplinary practices, the legislation will only apply to employees of the public body that would fall under the definition of an employee in the Employm…

The proposed amendment seeks to provide the Minister with the option to set out in the regulations financial or other penalties where a concerned person does not comply with the provisions of section 20A. I agree with Senator Higgins that, although we are seeking to encourage compliance through a carrot, we also need the stick. Strengthened by my amendments in the Dáil, the Bill provides a significant stick and I am confident that the enforcement procedures in the Bill are sufficiently robust to address any lack of…

It will take a moment for me to recall where we were.

I apologise but I just needed to recall where we were in the discussion. On amendment No. 35, the Bill requires companies to make public their gender pay gap information and the regulations will set out clearly how this will be carried out. There are some policy questions to be settled on how this will operate in reality. Today I am not in a position to give a complete and conclusive explanation of how exactly the evidence of compliance will be established but that guidance will be provided in the context of the fi…

I am happy to engage with the Senator.

I have discussed on a number of occasions the changes we made to section 85C - accepted on Report Stage in the Dáil - which will enhance the enforcement powers of IHREC by providing it with the power to take an application to the Circuit Court or the High Court, where it has reasonable grounds for believing there has been a failure by a person to comply with the provisions of the Bill, to obtain an order requiring that person to comply. We believe that this is the stick the legislation provides in the context of en…

This is a technical amendment, the purpose of which is to delete the term "section 85D" and replace it with "section 85C". With the deletion of the original section 85B, the sections have been renumbered. Members will note that section 4 incorrectly refers to section 85D, which no longer exists as a result of a Report Stage amendment in the Dáil.

I confirm to Senators that the new subsection (5) to be inserted into section 32 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 is without prejudice to the entitlement of our right to exercise its powers under section 32 in any such case of its own motion. I submit that the amendment is not necessary but I am happy to put the confirmation on the record.