IMPACT has welcomed a Government commitment to report the results of the gender pay gap surveys it intends to introduce for companies with 50 or more employees. The union says the pledge, which is set out in the new National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020 published earlier this month, goes significantly further than the Programme for Government commitment to simply require firms to conduct wage surveys.

IMPACT, which has been campaigning for legislation to compel large and medium employers to publish details of their organisations’ gender pay gaps, also welcomed the strategy’s commitment to initiate dialogue between unions and employers in order to address the gender pay gap.

IMPACT spokesperson Lughan Deane said the Programme for Government committed the Government to the principle of wage surveys, but fell short of a pledge to report results. “We called on Government to go further and require employers to publish the data rather than just collect it. Now the National Women’s Strategy appears to have made that commitment, and this represents a major breakthrough in the campaign for equal pay between men and women,” he said.

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality Frances Fitzgerald has said she would meet IMPACT on the issue once the National Women’s Strategy was published. The union said it would seek further clarity on the Government’s planned reporting mechanism at that meeting.

ICTU has also praised the Government’s new pledge on pay gap reporting. Its equality officer, David Joyce said: “This is an important step in tackling gender-based pay inequality and we look forward to seeing this measure fully implemented.”

IMPACT also welcomed a Labour Party bill on the issue, which is now set to be introduced in the Seanad later this month. The union is now contacting senators to seek their support.