The gender pay gap among employees in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine rose to 9.7 per cent last year as the department published its gender pay gap report a month later than the statutory deadline.
The mean gender pay gap at the department was 9.7 per cent in 2023, meaning that on average, men were paid an hourly wage 9.7 per cent higher than women.
This is a slight increase from a gender pay gap of 9.5 per cent reported by the department in 2022.
Last year was the second that Irish organisations with more than 250 employees were legally required to publish a gender pay gap report, under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021. Under the regulations, such reports for a given year must be filed by the end of December of that year.
The department’s report was published a month past the statutory deadline, on January 31st, making it the only Government department not to file its report on time.
The department declined to comment on why the paper was delayed.
Under the 2021 Act, if an employer fails to comply with gender pay gap reporting regulations, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission can apply for a court order to compel them to do so, or an employee can make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission.
However, there are no legal penalties, financial or otherwise, for employers who do not publish a report, or who publish later than the December deadline.
‘It’s a fool who turns down money’
The department noted in the report that its gender pay gap reflects the fact that a higher proportion of its staff at more senior levels are men.
It highlighted that there has been a “steady downward trend” in its gender pay gap since it first started monitoring in 2013. Then, the pay gap was 20.5 per cent, and has since shrank, as it said more women have been appointed to senior positions within the organisation.
A total of 1,975 staff work in the department, of whom 51 per cent are men and 49 per cent are women.
Among the measures the department said it is taking to eliminate or reduce its gender pay gap was the relaunching of its gender equality steering group last year, as well as several initiatives led by its equality, diversity and inclusion advocacy team.
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