Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be sharing my time with some colleagues, and I am pleased to say that I will be sharing the time equally with them. I welcome the Labour Party Bill before the House this evening. Fianna Fáil will be supporting the legislation.

It is important to note that for centuries women in Ireland, and women throughout the world, have been discriminated against. Not only have they been treated as second-class citizens they have been deprived of some of the basic rights that men took for granted for centuries. This year we celebrate the centenary of women getting the vote in 1918, which was a significant event. It is also important to recall that there was significant opposition to that. It was not always the case that the path of women's suffrage and rights for women was supported by the political establishment. Some of the biggest opponents of giving women the right to vote prior to 1918 were members of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and it was not only John Redmond. Sir Edward Carson, as a member of the Irish Unionist Alliance, was also vigorously opposed to giving women the right to vote. Some Irish MPs were different in that they supported universal suffrage but the political establishment prior to 1918 was very much opposed to women getting the vote.

When the Irish Free State was established the marriage bar was introduced in 1932. This prevented women from working in the Civil Service upon marriage. This affected many women, mothers of many of us no doubt, who had to give up their jobs once they married. We only got rid of this measure in 1973. Legislation that was prompted to a large extent by the European Economic Community, as the EU was known, gradually resulted in greater rights being given to women in the workplace. In 1977 the Employment Equality Act was introduced. This important legislation was introduced by another member of the Labour Party, the former Tánaiste, Michael O'Leary, a man who appears to have been airbrushed out of Irish history but who played a significant role in improving the path for the equality of women in the workplace. Fianna Fáil introduced the Employment Equality Act 1998, which ensured that equality on the basis of gender was upheld in the workplace. That was also a significant piece of work and a significant achievement.

Today, unfortunately, we still have not attained full equality for women in the workplace. The statistics reveal that currently there is a gender pay gap. I note the Minister of State's comments on the causes of that, but it is not necessarily the case that the reason for the gender pay gap is that the laws, be they the Employment Equality Acts of 1977 or 1998, are being breached. The fact of the matter is that the pay gap exists and the Oireachtas has to do something in respect of that. We are in the fortunate position where the public sector has led the way for many years in this. There is no suggestion or contemplation that any Member of this House who is man should be paid more than a female Deputy. This also applies throughout the public sector and the Civil Service. The problem appears to lie significantly in the private sector.

This legislation is very useful in trying to deal with a complex problem. One of the first stands that must be made in order to deal with a problem is to disclose the problem. If companies over a certain size are required to publish information in respect of the gender pay gap, then it focuses attention on the issue. Once attention is focused on the issue then we can start to resolve it and it will become a more obvious requirement for companies to ensure they do not have a significant gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap that is being statistically examined in the State is at present around 14%. We also note that the problem appears most significant at the higher end of the workforce. This question really needs to be examined closely, and answered. We should not permit a situation to develop where there is any breach in respect of the amounts that women are paid compared to men at the higher levels or the lower levels.

I will now hand over to my colleague, Deputy O'Loughlin.

See this speech in context