Written answers

Thursday, 31 March 2022

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Gender Equality

Photo of Holly CairnsHolly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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254. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps he is taking to identify and address gender pay disparity in his Department and public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17361/22]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer. At the end of February 2022, 50.88% of the workforce was male while 49.12% were female. It is committed to equal pay and all salaries are equal regardless of gender.

Action 8.5 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan makes a commitment “to improve gender balance at each level by reviewing supports and policies to ensure these are impactful and measurable”. My Department fully supports this commitment.

My Department has proactively managed its gender balance particularly at senior management level where at Assistant Principal (AP) and Principal Officer (PO) levels there was a relatively low representation of females in the past. At the most senior level of my Department 50% of Assistant Secretaries and equivalents are female. However, in January 2021 only 28% of POs and equivalents and 44% of AP and equivalents were female. Following a concerted focus on encouraging greater numbers of women to apply for senior roles in my Department, these levels have improved over the past year and at the end of February 2022 of 43% of POs and equivalent were female and 46% of AP and equivalents were female. My Department is very encouraged by this growth in female participation in these two grades and will continue to monitor gender equality across all grades.

A gender action plan has been developed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and my Department is committed to advancing the actions set down in the plan, and has developed its own departmental action plan. My Department has also established a senior working group who are looking at ways to improve female participation rate at a senior level. My Department actively supports family friendly initiatives such as flexible working hours, shorter working year and work sharing across all the grades where appropriate. A diversity policy will also be developed in 2022 which will include gender equality measures.

My Department does not hold the requested information in respect of the State Bodies under its aegis. These State Bodies may be contacted directly by e-mail by members of the Oireachtas, as set out in the table below.

State Body Contact E-mail Address
An Bord Pleanála oireachtasqueries@pleanala.ie
An Fóram Uisce (theWater Forum) info@nationalwaterforum.ie
Docklands Oversight and Consultative Forum infodocklands@dublincity.ie
Ervia oireachtas@ervia.ie
Gas Networks Ireland oireachtas@ervia.ie
Heritage Council oireachtas@heritagecouncil.ie
Housing Finance Agency oireachtas.enquiries@hfa.ie
Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency publicreps@housingagency.ie
Irish Water oireachtasmembers@water.ie
Land Development Agency oireachtas@lda.ie
Local Government Management Agency corporate@lgma.ie
National Oversight and Audit Commission info@noac.ie
National Traveller Accommodation Consultative Committee ntacc@housing.gov.ie
Office of the Planning Regulator oireachtas@opr.ie
Ordnance Survey Ireland Oireachtas@osi.ie
Property Registration Authority reps@prai.ie
Pyrite Resolution Board oireachtasinfo@pyriteboard.ie
Residential Tenancies Board OireachtasMembersQueries@rtb.ie
Valuation Office oireachtas.enquiries@VALOFF.ie
Valuation Tribunal info@valuationtribunal.ie
Water Advisory Body info@wab.gov.ie
Waterways Ireland ceoffice@waterwaysireland.org

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