Transport sees biggest fall in gender pay gap among Government departments

The Department of Transport has reported the largest reduction in its gender pay gap among Government departments this year.

This is the second year that Irish organisations with more than 250 employees, including Government departments, are legally required to publish a gender pay gap report. A positive percentage indicates how much higher the mean hourly wage is for men than women in an organisation, while a negative percentage indicates that a gender pay gap favours women.

The Department of Transport recorded a fall of 6.7 percentage points in its mean gender pay gap, from 20.4 per cent in 2022 to 13.7 per cent this year. The department said this was a result of greater female representation among its top earners.

A small number of departments reported a widening in their gender pay gaps since last year, with one of them moving in favour of women.

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At the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the gender pay gap was -3.63 per cent last year in favour of women. This increased to -5.16 per cent in 2023. The department noted that the gap was driven primarily by the higher proportion of women employed, particularly at the assistant principal grade.

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The gender pay gap at the Department of Justice increased from 5 per cent to 5.32 per cent, while the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment saw the gap rise from 10.56 per cent to 10.86 per cent this year.

At the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, the pay gap rose from 7.66 per cent to 7.95 per cent.

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Other departments that reduced their mean pay gap include the Department of Education, which has reduced it from 4.97 per cent last year to 0.41 per cent in 2023. The department noted that it had a higher share of women in more senior positions relative to men this year, driving down the gap to close to zero.

The Department of Health reported that its pay gap fell from 6.75 per cent to 3.02 per cent, while at the Department of An Taoiseach, it reduced from 8.82 per cent in 2022 to 5.57 per cent this year.

The pay gap at the Department of Public Expenditure, NPD Delivery and Reform almost halved to 2.57 per cent this year. At the Department of Foreign Affairs, it fell from 13.87 per cent to 11.90 per cent.

Meanwhile, at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, the gap reduced from 12.1 per cent to 10.3 per cent, while the Department of Finance saw it decrease from 12.28 per cent to 10.59 per cent.

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The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage saw the gap reduce from 6.30 per cent in 2022 to 5.04 per cent while the Department of Social Protection saw it reduce from 5.5 per cent to 4.69 per cent.

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media saw a fall from 4.73 per cent to 4.24 per cent.

At the Department of Defence, gender pay gaps are calculated separately for those in Defence Forces, civil servant and civilian roles.

Among the Defence Forces, the pay gap was in favour of women, increasing from -1.20 per cent in 2022 to -2.56 per cent in 2023. The department said the figure is skewed due to the under-representation of females in the permanent Defence Forces.

The pay gap for civil servants at the Department of Defence fell marginally to 12.12 per cent, while over the same period the gap for civilian employees increased from 5.10 per cent to 6.43 per cent.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has not yet published its report for 2023, but has until the end of December to do so. Its gender pay gap in 2022 was 9.48 per cent.

The Department of Rural and Community Development is not required to publish such a report as it is below the staff threshold of 250, but it will publish one next year when the threshold reduces to 150 employees.

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