Bacik welcomes 2nd Stage Passage of Gender Pay Gap Bill in Seanad

Ivana Bacik TD
24 May 2017

Senator Ivana Bacik has welcomed this evening the passing at second stage of the Labour Party’s Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Gender Pay Gap Information) Bill 2017. The Bill will now move to committee stage, with nearly all Senators present supporting it, and the Labour Group will seek an opportunity to progress it further at the earliest opportunity.

Senator Bacik said:
“I welcome the second stage passage in the Seanad of our gender pay gap bill.

“This Bill has one key purpose requiring employers of 50 or more staff to publish information demonstrating any pay gap between men and women that exists in their organisation.

“Labour’s Bill, which is based on legislation in other EU countries, will help to drive down any gender-based wage discrepancies.

“This is not controversial legislation, as a similar model has been implemented in the UK.

“In Belgium, it has been instrumental in reducing the gender pay gap to less than 7%, compared to the 13.9% gap in Ireland.

“The current gap means that in Ireland women in full time employment work for free for about one month of every year.

“We passed equal pay legislation in Ireland more than 40 years ago, in 1974, and yet women have still not achieved anything close to pay parity with our male colleagues.

“This Bill, when passed into law, will help close that pay gap.”

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