The gender pay gap in Ireland has widened over the last five years. Government has sought to close the gap by introducing new legislation, namely the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Gender Pay Gap Information) Bill 2017. The Bill was accepted by Government on Wednesday 25th October and attempts to eliminate the disparity in pay between men and women.

The Bill, introduced by Labour Senator Ivana Bacik, assigns new powers to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to make mandatory information disclosure schemes. Under the schemes businesses will be compelled to publish details on what they pay men and women.

“Part of the problem is we don’t have transparency,” Ms Bacik said. “We don’t know what companies have