David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman. I do not have a whole lot to say at this stage regarding opening comments.

The Bill is fairly straightforward. Obviously the Programme for Partnership Government includes a commitment to take measures to reduce the gender pay gap and promote wage transparency by requiring companies of 50 or more employees to complete a wage survey. This commitment is being implemented by means of action 1.23 of the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020 on which the Government is to promote wage transparency by requiring companies of 50 or more employees to complete a wage survey periodically and report the results.

The main provisions of the Bill are as follows. The Minister will have the power to make regulations to require public and private employers to publish information setting out the differences between the mean and median hourly remuneration of male and female employees. The reporting will be done on a phased basis beginning with employers of more than 250 employees, then employers of more than 150 employees and then to employees of more than 50 employees. This will apply to both full-time and part-time employees in relation to bonus payments and benefits-in-kind. The Bill requires an employer to include a narrative setting out the reasons for the gender pay in the firm and the measures, if any, being taken to address that gap. The Bill also provides for a number of enforcement mechanisms. An employee will be able to make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission will be able to apply to the Circuit Court to require an employer to comply with the regulations where it has reason to believe that an employer has failed to comply. I shall raise a number of issues as we go through the Bill and I will further consider them for Report Stage.