Equal pay and pay transparency in Ireland
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Equal pay and equal remuneration for equal work have been legal requirements in Ireland for decades. Pay transparency — the obligation to be open about how pay is set and, in some cases, to report on pay gaps — is the newer and more active area of compliance.
What the law requires on equal pay
The Employment Equality Acts 1998–2015 prohibit pay discrimination across nine grounds: gender, civil status, family status, age, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, and membership of the Traveller community. An employee who believes they are paid less than a comparable colleague for the same or similar work can bring a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
"Equal work" covers three scenarios: like work (the same or very similar job), work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation scheme, and work of equal value even if the roles look different. That last category is the most contested, because it requires comparing jobs that are genuinely different but argue to be of equivalent worth to the employer.
There is no automatic right to know what a colleague earns in private employment. But an employee can ask their employer to provide information relevant to a pay equality claim — and the WRC can compel disclosure during a hearing.
Gender pay gap reporting
Since 2022, employers above certain headcount thresholds have been required to calculate and publish a gender pay gap report each year. The obligation has been phased in by size:
- 250 or more employees: reporting required from 2022
- 150 or more employees: required from 2024
- 50 or more employees: required from 2025
Reports must be published on the employer's website (or in another accessible format) and cover metrics including mean and median hourly pay gaps, bonus gaps, and the proportion of men and women in each pay quartile. Employers must also provide a narrative explaining the reasons for any gap and the measures they are taking to address it.
The report captures a snapshot in June each year, with publication due within six months. This means employers with 50 or more employees should already be treating this as a routine annual process rather than a one-off exercise.
A gender pay gap is not the same as unequal pay. The gap typically reflects how men and women are distributed across roles and seniority levels. Closing it usually requires action on recruitment, promotion, flexible working and career development — not just adjusting individual salaries.
What the EU Pay Transparency Directive means for Irish employers
The EU Pay Transparency Directive was adopted in 2023 and EU member states, including Ireland, are required to transpose it into national law. The Directive will introduce several new obligations beyond the current gender pay gap reporting framework.
Key provisions expected to come into force include:
Pay range disclosure in job adverts. Employers will be required to include the salary or salary range in job advertisements, or communicate it before interview. This removes the common practice of listing "competitive salary" without any figures.
Right to information. Employees will have the right to request information on average pay levels by gender for their job category. Employers will not be able to prohibit workers from disclosing their own pay.
Stronger reporting requirements. Employers with 100 or more employees will need to report on pay gaps jointly with employee representatives and, where a gap exceeds 5%, carry out a pay equity assessment.
Burden of proof shift. In discrimination claims, the burden shifts to the employer to demonstrate that no discrimination occurred, rather than requiring the employee to prove it.
The deadline for member states to transpose the Directive into national law is June 2026. Irish employers should watch for the transposing legislation and begin preparing now, particularly on salary transparency in recruitment.
Practical steps for employers
You do not need to wait for legislation to take sensible action. A few things that hold up under scrutiny:
Document your pay structures. Know how pay is set. If you cannot explain the criteria — skills, experience, performance, market rate — you are exposed in a WRC hearing or an employee inquiry. Written job grades or pay bands are not bureaucracy; they are a defence.
Audit before someone else does. Run an internal pay audit periodically. Compare pay across gender and, where your workforce is large enough, across other equality grounds. Address unexplained gaps proactively rather than reactively.
Train your managers. Most pay inequality is not deliberate. It often creeps in through individual salary negotiations, discretionary bonuses or informal judgements about "potential." Managers who understand how bias enters pay decisions are better placed to avoid it.
Get your recruitment practice ready. Even before the Directive is transposed, being clear about salary ranges in job adverts is good practice. Candidates expect it, and withholding it can disadvantage applicants who cannot afford to negotiate in the dark.
Keep records. If a pay decision is challenged, you need to show the reasoning. Document offers, increments and any criteria used in performance-related pay.
Where this fits with payroll
Pay equity starts before payroll, in the decisions made about what people are paid. But payroll data is where the evidence lives. Accurate, structured payroll records — broken down by role, grade and hours — are what make a gender pay gap report possible and what support you in any WRC process. If your payroll data is messy or incomplete, fixing that is a prerequisite to meaningful pay analysis.
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