Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government accepts that the gender pay gap of 14% is unacceptable, unfair and a hallmark of gender inequality in our society. The Deputy will also be aware that such pay gaps are not unique to Ireland and exist across the developed world, including, even, very progressive Nordic countries which have larger gender pay gaps than Ireland. However, that does not make it in any way acceptable. Equal pay for equal work was introduced in 1974 as a consequence of European law and it has made a real difference. More than 30 years later, however, we continue to have a gender pay gap for multiple reasons. One reason is that more women work on a part-time basis than men, which is often because women are still expected to bear the greater burden of caring in society, including caring for children and older people, and are likely to work part-time as a result. That is not something that is simple to change. It can be changed, however, by providing more subsidised childcare, as we are doing, and by providing paternity benefit to men so that more men take up caring roles. That is one of the things that has to change.

Another issue is, of course, gender bias in promotions. I attended the National Gallery yesterday with the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, for the launch of the actions we are taking in the higher education sector. This is just one example. While approximately 50% of the lecturers in our universities and institutes of technology are female, it is only 25% when one gets up to the professor level. It is evident that we need to put accelerators in place so that more women are promoted and in that way help to close the gender pay gap. The Deputy will be aware of the decisions we made in that regard yesterday. They are very progressive, albeit controversial in parts. On 26 June last, we approved the general scheme of the gender pay gap information Bill. The Joint Committee on Justice and Equality will carry out pre-legislative scrutiny on the general scheme on 21 November. That is in only eight days' time. I appeal to all parties in the House to get that scrutiny done quickly and before the end of the year so that we can proceed to legislate.

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