Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her question. I welcome the opportunity to outline some of the things the Government is doing and prioritising on International Women's Day. Women's empowerment is a key theme running through A Programme for a Partnership Government and it is being advanced within the framework of the national strategy for women and girls, published last May. Women's groups, civil society actors and the trade union movement were among the stakeholders across society who contributed to the development of this strategy. Stakeholders continue to be closely involved, in particular in their participation on the strategy committee advising on implementation. Our focus is now firmly on the implementation of the strategy and the Government is committed to leading by example in multiple areas.

The public consultation and national symposium were held in recent months with a view to identifying measures to address the gender pay gap, which is still at nearly 14%. This is what the figures tell us for 2014. Work is advancing on a proposal to promote wage transparency by requiring companies to complete periodic wage surveys and report those results. Work is under way to develop options to give effect to the commitment to significantly increase paid leave for the first year of a child's life to support families and the choices men and women may make. The Government is piloting a gender budgeting initiative which, during the 2018 budget cycle, will test gender equality objectives and performance indicators across a diverse range of expenditure programmes and across multiple Departments, including mine.

The Government is committed to establishing an independent business-led review group to recommend measures to boost female representation on boards of companies. The current proportion in Ireland is 17%, which compares poorly with the average across the European Union of 25%. The Government is committed to a follow-up survey to the 2002 report on sexual abuse and violence in Ireland to further inform work on eliminating violence against women. Legislation on domestic violence that the Government has promised and has already begun considering in this House will be back in this House before the end of this month.

There is a series of areas in which we are determined to try to give leadership. There are many strong women advocates for this change. The Government as a whole is absolutely committed to it.

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