Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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483. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the monitoring mechanisms which are in place to ensure compliance with the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 is monitored; and if such monitoring will be the task of his Department. [58717/22]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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484. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department maintains a list of all businesses required to report gender pay gap information under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021. [58718/22]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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485. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a register of employers who have not complied with the requirements of the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 will be made available on the Government’s dedicated website. [58719/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 483, 484 and 485 together.

Regulations have been made under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 which enable reporting in 2022. The Regulations require organisations with over 250 employees to report on their gender pay gap in 2022. Employers were required to choose a ‘snapshot’ date in June 2022 and to base their reporting on the employees they have on that date. Employers have six months from that date to make the relevant calculations and prepare their report, which should be published on the equivalent date in December 2022. The Regulations also require employers to publish a statement setting out, in the employers’ opinion, the reasons for the gender pay gap in their company and what measures are being taken or proposed to be taken by the employer to eliminate or reduce that pay gap. Employers will be required to publish their report and statement in a manner easily accessible to the public, such as on their website.

Measures concerning enforcement of reporting obligations by relevant employers are provided for in Section 3 of the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021, which inserted new sections 85B and 85C in the Employment Equality Act 1998. Section 85B enables the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, to apply to the Circuit Court or the High Court for an order requiring a person to comply with the regulations. A person who fails to comply with a Court order is in contempt of that Court. Section 85C allows for an employee to make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, of non-compliance with reporting regulations by their employer. The Director General of the WRC or an adjudication officer, to whom one would expect this function will be delegated, will investigate the complaint if satisfied that there is a prima facie case. If, on investigation, the officer finds in favour of the complainant, he or she may make an order requiring the employer to take a specified course of action in order to comply. Enforcement of WRC orders is through the District Court.

My Department does not maintain a list of individual employers required to report and does not have a role under the legislation in enforcing compliance.

Future regulations made under the Act may provide for a central website on to which employers will be required to upload their information. Such a system is not in place for the 2022 reporting cycle.

Plans are in place to develop an online reporting system for future reporting cycles. The specification of this system is at an early stage of development. It is envisaged that it would provide for the publication of employers' reports as specified in the Regulations, and reports for previous years as specified in the Regulations.