Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My party has been to the fore in trying to pursue and introduce the Scottish model in this House, along with others. We know that the new budgetary committee will consider the matter in some fashion. It is one of the things that we tried to do in the Finance Bill. We wanted equality budgeting, that would encompass gender budgeting, included in the Finance Bill. Unfortunately, it was impossible for us to do as we did not have the numbers. I encourage the National Women's Council to continue its call for equality budgeting to be introduced.

That would put the spotlight on some of the changes made in 2012 and how the move was predominantly anti-women which was really made under the radar. I compliment the National Women's Council of Ireland on its work in that regard.

On the gender pay gap, Sinn Féin took a position this year in calling for the removal of VAT from hotel bed costs. We did this because the hotel sector, particularly in Dublin, was thriving but also because we believed the record of the sector was quite poor on the issue of low pay. Does the National Women's Council of Ireland have any view on the low pay gap? Are there particular sectors in which the gender gap is wider or is it across the board?