Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I accept that there is potential to address this in the regulations. More than bonuses, it probably involves remuneration in kind in terms of the definition. This is where the regulations will be very important. They are also important on another level because certain kinds of remuneration have a very clear financial component, for example, shares.On the other end of the scale, childcare access, for example, could be marked as benefit-in-kind because certain areas have values placed on them even though they are not necessarily a benefit in the same way. They are more like measures to create a positive, healthy or appropriate workplace environment. I would not want maternity leave packages to be translated into benefit-in-kind and made equivalent to measures such as shares that contribute to gender pay inequality. There is a lot of nuance in what is construed as a benefit-in-kind. In that regard, it would be good to have the opportunity to engage with the Minister on thee regulations, as Senator Bacik suggested, because the devil will be in the detail.

The Bill refers to the percentage of all employees who received benefits and the percentage of the female gender who received such benefits. My concern is that, with a blunt form of reporting, a number of male employees could receive shares while a number of women employees receive a special package for Christmas or summer and so on. I do not want employers to report a blunt figure whereby they would be able to say that 100% of their employees received benefits-in-kind. The figure should be unpacked. Does the Minister know what I mean? As the Bill reads, the provision is quite blunt. We must ensure the reporting is a little more nuanced, while respecting pseudonymisation and addressing the patterns. There is scope to address them through these measures but I am a little cautious. I will reserve the right to come back on Report Stage and I might engage with the Minister before then to discuss how we might approach this issue with regulations.