Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. In an ideal world, this would apply everywhere in every company and would be administered appropriately in every company. I am mindful, however, of the advice that came through the Oireachtas Library and Research Service, which states:

Given the experience that has been identified in the UK and other jurisdictions regarding the administrative burden that gender pay gap reporting can place on smaller organisations, the committee also recommended [this was the joint committee in its pre-legislative scrutiny report] that: Consideration should be given to the capacity of smaller businesses to meet reporting requirements.

The Library and Research Service, which is just excellent, contacted the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission, EHRC, on 24 January 2019. The EHRC said that:

... while there was full compliance ... there were issues with regard to the capacity of organisations to calculate their [gender pay gap]. These capacity issues were particularly pronounced for small organisations (between 250 and 300 employees), especially for those organisations which did not have designated HR capacity.

That is quite common with companies which one would imagine should have a HR capacity because of their size. Thankfully, however, not all of them do. I have made a good living out of outsourcing. From that perspective, while there should be a drive towards this and between part-time and full-time employees and different categories of employee, there is a right of complaint to the WRC. In the context of the reporting aspect, however, we should certainly consider the burden on the employer. That said, it is really important that there is a full-scale move towards universal gender equality.