Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to work with my colleagues in the Labour Party in supporting this Bill. In recent weeks, we have worked together on other legislation in the same vein in order to try to advance women's equality, address the stark inequalities that exist in our society and do our job as legislators in trying to bridge that gap. Where we see failings in legislation, we seek to make changes. That is what this Bill certainly seeks to do.

This is a very practical Bill in that it requires employers with more than 50 employees to publish information about their pay scales in order that we can see if there are any differences in how they pay their male and female employees. It is quite simple information but it would be very effective in making changes. It would also allow the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to create an information disclosure scheme for employers about a gender pay gap if one exists in an organisation. Some organisations will welcome this - those that are doing a good job - while others might not. That level of discomfort is something we need in working towards our goal. These provisions will allow employers to benchmark against their competitors and should act as an incentive to do better, because companies need to do better.

The Bill will also allow prospective employees to look at employers and decide which are best to work for, which actually value equality and which will treat them properly and equally. The fact is that in late 2018, we are looking at a 14% gender pay gap. Women in this country are being paid 14% less than men and the gap is widening. As Deputy Jan O'Sullivan pointed out, this effectively means that from 10 November each year, women stop being paid. That is unacceptable and wrong and there should be a sense of urgency in addressing it. We have to address the underlying reasons that the pay gap exists in the first instance. There are many such reasons. The fact remains that the pay gap is wrong. If employers know they are paying their female employees less, they should be taken to task. They should be forced to publish that information and they should be forced to close the gap completely.

Given that women are still the primary caregivers, are required to take maternity leave and are ones who will have absences from work, it is no surprise that they are discriminated against. A Bill that Deputy O'Loughlin and I published not long ago was not supported by Government but was supported by the Labour Party, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, and the Green Party. Basically, the entire Opposition supported the Bill but the Government opposed it. That Bill would have allowed women to share their maternity leave entitlements with their partner if they so chose. The effect would have been twofold. It would have given flexibility to women to get back into the workplace quicker if they wanted. It would also have levelled the playing field in the sense that when people were going for a job the employer might look at the female candidate and the male candidate and think that actually either of them might take maternity or parental leave. That level of discrimination would have lessened. However, the Government decided not to support the Bill.

When listening to the Minister of State's response as to why he is not supporting the Bill, I have to say I think many of us were smirking at the true intention behind why it is not being supported. To say that he has examined the possibility of bringing forward amendments and that it was just too cumbersome suggests it is just inconvenient, and that really the Labour Party beat Fine Gael to it. Is that not the real reason? The Labour Party got there ahead of Fine Gael.

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