Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Ireland (Ratification: 1974)

Article 2 of the Convention. Measures to address the gender pay gap. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 which requires organisations with over 250 employees to report on their gender pay gap (including the metrics, analysis of cause of the gap and measures to address it). It also notes the statement by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), in its submission to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), highlighting the limited scope of reporting obligations under the Act as it fails to capture data on small and medium enterprises, which account for 99.8 per cent of all active enterprises and 68 per cent of employment in the country (see IHREC’s parallel report to CEDAW, September 2023, page 63). The Committee therefore welcomes the Government’s indication, in its report, that it plans to extend this reporting to organisations with over 150 employees in 2024 and with over 50 employees in 2025; and that a centralised reporting database will be developed in the coming years to facilitate access and comparative analysis of the information provided. It also notes the IHREC’s indication that the gender pay gap disproportionately affects particular groups of women such as minority ethnic women, Traveller women, disabled women, non-Irish women and other structurally vulnerable groups; and its call for an ambitious transposition of the recently adopted European Union Pay Transparency Directive ((EU)2023/970) which addresses some of these issues (pages 64–65). Finally, the Committee also welcomes the adoption of the Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act 2022 which provides for a fair and equitable distribution of tips and gratuities among staff. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken to address the gender pay gap and the results obtained.

Occupational segregation. Minimum wages. With reference to its previous comment, and in particular to the measures taken or envisaged to address the stereotypical assumption that family responsibilities should rest mainly on women, the Committee refers to the observation it addresses to the Government on the implementation of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) regarding the results of the referendum to amend the Constitution. It notes the Government’s statement that recent research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found that the gender pay gap at the bottom of the wage distribution in Ireland is close to zero and that the minimum wage led to a significant reduction in the gender pay gap among low-paid employees. The Committee notes however that, according to the IHREC’s submission to the CEDAW (pages 61 and 77): (1) there is a clear gender dimension to the incidence of low pay, as women account for 60 per cent of low paid workers; and (2) many women do not have a sufficient income to meet their right to an adequate standard of living, with the situation continuing to worsen. In 2023, only 13 per cent of test household cases in receipt of social welfare demonstrated income adequacy, with many households reporting that their social welfare income met less than 90 per cent of what they needed to achieve a minimum essential standard of living. The Committee asks the Governmentto provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to: (i) improve women’s access to a wider range of job opportunities at all levels, including in sectors in which they are currently absent or under-represented; (ii) address the stereotypical assumption that family responsibilities should rest mainly on women; and (iii) improve the enforcement of minimum wages.

Article 3. Equality reviews and objective job evaluation. The Committee welcomes the publication of a Code of practice on equal pay in March 2022 which aims to give practical guidance to employers, employers’ organisations, trade unions and employees on the right to equal pay (based on any of the nine prohibited grounds in the Employment Equality Act, including gender) and how to resolve pay disputes. Section 8 of the Code provides that the “right to equal pay for like work means that a person covered by the legislation who is performing work that is the same or similar or of equal value to that of another person employed by the same or associated employer, who differs in respect of one of the protected grounds, has a right to be paid the same as that other; [and] that person must not be paid less on any of the nine prohibited grounds.” The Committee notes, however, that: (1) based on this definition, the Code only covers equal remuneration for work of equal value for workers employed by “the same or associated employer” whereas the principle of the Convention extends beyond the same employer (see General Survey of 2012 on Fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 697–699); and (2) Section 6 of the Code highlights that it “does not impose any legal obligations in itself, nor is it an authoritative statement of the law”. In this regard, it refers to the comments it makes in the direct request addressed to the Government on the implementation of Convention No. 111. The Committee also notes the Government’s statement that, in transposing the European Union Pay Transparency Directive, consideration will be given to the establishment and use by the social partners of gender-neutral job evaluation and classification systems, as provided in the Directive. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on: (i) the use of the Code of Practice on Equal Pay by employers and workers and the results achieved; and (ii) any other measures taken, in cooperation with the social partners, to promote the use of objective job evaluation methods free from gender bias in both their design and implementation.

Statistics. The Committee notes that, according to Eurostat data, the gender pay gap in unadjusted form in 2022 was the lowest in the last 10 years, at 9.3 per cent (from 11.3 per cent in 2018 and 13.9 per cent in 2014). It also notes that the IHREC, in its July 2023 submission on the review of equality legislation initiated by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY, pages 85–86), recommended to: (1) develop and roll out disaggregated equality data collection, processing and communication systems across relevant public bodies in order to monitor the effectiveness and impact of the legislation, and that the relevant bodies publish statistics and analysis on an annual basis; and (2) place an obligation on the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in particular to collect and annually publish disaggregated equality data that would allow for assessment of the impact of the legislation, facilitate public scrutiny and research, and allow for recommendations for law reform where appropriate. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on: (i) the evolution of the gender pay gap; and (ii) the measures taken to collect such information disaggregated by sector, occupation and educational level, in both the private and the public sectors.

Enforcement and judicial decisions. In reply to the Committee’s previous comment, the Government explains that the following factors may contribute to a large number of complaints filed with the WRC being withdrawn: (1) following a Supreme Court judgment in 2021, the majority of hearings of the WRC take place in public and its decisions are not anonymised; (2) the WRC provides mediation services; (3) parties may choose to hold settlement talks amongst themselves before, during or after a hearing by the WRC; and (4) some complaints do not meet the burden of proof or have low causality with the legislation under which they have been filed. The Committee also notes, from the WRC’s annual report 2022 to which the Government refers, that out of the 12,780 complaints received, some 3,363 (26 per cent) related to pay and 1,851 (14 per cent) to “discrimination, equality and equal status”. However, the Government does not specify how many complaints alleged equal pay discrimination on the ground of gender, unlike in its previous report. The Committee asks the Government to continue providing detailed information on the number and outcome of equal pay complaints specifically based on the ground of gender. Please also provide information on any judicial decision on the issue of equal pay.