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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together.

The Department of the Taoiseach, in line with the rest of the Civil Service, actively encourages equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The Department is committed to a policy of equal opportunities for all staff and recognises that a diverse workforce helped by an inclusive culture can improve organisational capacity, boosting creativity and innovation and lead to better decision-making.

The 2022 gender pay gap report for the Department of the Taoiseach was published on 23 December 2022. The report sets out the gender pay gap statistics, incorporating 240 staff employed during the reporting period which was from July 2021 to June 2022. The information in the report was calculated in accordance with the principles laid out in the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021, which required organisations to report on their gender pay gap, that is, the difference between the average hourly wage of men and women across the workforce. For 2022, the Department's gender pay gap was 8.82% in favour of male employees. This means that the average hourly rate of pay for male employees was 8.82% higher than the average hourly rate for female employees during the relevant pay period. The latest EUROSTAT figures show the latest gender pay gap for Ireland is 11.3% and an EU wide average of 13%. Ireland is doing better than the EU average and the Department of the Taoiseach is doing better than Ireland but there still is a gender pay gap we need to close.

The Department's current gender distribution is 60.2% female and 39.8% male. This includes a significant level of female staff in middle management positions and a balanced gender distribution at principal officer and management board level. All employees are aligned to published civil and public service pay scales. This ensures equal pay for the same work irrespective of gender, with incremental progression based on years of service and satisfactory performance. Publishing the Department's gender pay gap data helps the Department to bring a specific focus on gender diversity and to continue the alignment of our actions for improvement in gender equality as part of the broader work to enhance equality, diversity and inclusion across the Department.

The Department of the Taoiseach will also continue to review its actions to improve gender equality to smooth career progression and promotion of more women to senior positions. The Department also offers a range of flexible working arrangements to all staff, including shorter working weeks and blended working arrangements and offers additional assistance to all staff in career development and to pursue promotional opportunities throughout their employment journey.

Recruitment to the Department is mainly through the Public Appointments Service, PAS, which plays a central role in recruiting diverse talent in line with its own equality, diversity and inclusion, EDI, strategy. While equal pay and equal opportunity are cornerstones of employment in the Civil Service, there is clearly more work to do to eliminate gender inequality not just in the workplace but right across our society. Government is showing leadership in this area, building on the extensive programme of work initiated when I first took up the office of Taoiseach, including the gender pay gap legislation, which is now the law, funding additional parental leave, reducing the cost of childcare, ensuring better gender balance on company boards as well as State boards and increasing gender candidate quotas for Dáil elections, which take effect this year.

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