Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Labour Party on introducing the Bill, and I thank Senator Bacik for all the work she has done on this in the Seanad. I also commend my colleague, Senator Clifford-Lee, and Sonya Lennon of the WorkEqual campaign. They have done a huge piece of work on bringing this issue to the businesses that we need to talk about. There is no point in us talking about this in the Dáil Chamber or our colleagues talking about it in the Seanad Chamber; we need businesses to take it on board, to stop talking about it and to put practical realities into action.

Equal pay for equal work has to be the cornerstone of any just and fair society. While we talk about this I am very conscious of the pay disparity that exists for those workers who started working after a particular year, especially between teachers. That is also absolutely wrong.

One of the most worrying aspects of recent research into the gender pay gap is the fact the gap is now widening for younger women when it absolutely should be narrowing at this stage. Progress is being made in other areas of gender equality but not, it would seem, in terms of pay. This is why Government intervention is essential. The strategies, consultations, reviews and symposiums have not worked. The Government must support this Bill. I am aware that the Minister of State has said the Government will not oppose it, but the Government should be supporting the Bill and not be neutral on it. The Bill is an important step towards pay equality. The Bill proposes legislation that will compel an employer with more than 50 staff to publish information on its employees' pay, a measure that already exists in the UK and Australia. The legislation needs to be supported by improved childcare provision, improved shared parental leave, as proposed in the legislation brought forward by myself and Deputy Lisa Chambers, and by increasing the number of women in better-paid roles and occupations.

The Bill has been described as a diagnostic rather than a curative measure. To solve the problem, however, we first need to gather all the necessary information to assist in public policy formation. This information can then be used by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Ireland continues to hold a ranking of 25th place on an international league table of overall female economic empowerment. Our latest figures say that the gender pay gap is 13.9%. As Deputy Broughan said, women are working for free for one month in the year. Our boardrooms have an 18% female participation rate compared to 22% in the UK and 34% in France. As usual, the Nordic countries are leading the way. Progress has been excruciatingly slow in addressing the pay gap and the lack of gender diversity on boards. Ireland is one of the worst performers in Europe for gender balance on corporate boards. Half of all State boards are still failing to meet the 45% minimum target set in 2014.

Young Irish women are constantly reading news stories about their favourite actors, musicians and celebrities fighting for equal pay in the worlds of music and film. It is good that people are being upfront and out there about their fight. As their representatives, we have to try to ensure parity of pay for young women here in their own country. Great strides have been made to improve economic independence for women in Ireland in recent decades. Bold and progressive policy changes were needed to achieve this. The same approach should be taken to address the gender pay gap. We would not accept different rates of pay on any other basis. If two people are doing the same job with the same level of experience then they should be on the same salary.

It is deeply disturbing that as women progress in their careers and gain experience, their earning power drops to such a level that they earn 28% less than their male counterparts after 15 years. Shocking research from the UK shows that Ryanair is in the top ten of those with the worst gender pay gap. I am happy to join my colleague, Deputy O'Callaghan, and lead in this area in saying that Fianna Fáil will support the Bill in an effort to progress the glacial pace at which pay equality is proceeding.

See this speech in context