ELA EU Pay Directive
IRELAND
Legislation Addressing the EU Pay Directive
Succinct summary of the legislation:
PARTIALLY TRANSPOSED
Ireland has not fully transposed the Directive by the 7 June 2026 deadline. The Irish Government has formally confirmed that full transposition will occur on a phased basis and that Ireland has notified the European Commission that it would miss the deadline.
Certain elements of the Directive have already been implemented through employment equality legislation which preceded the Directive (the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 and associated Regulations). In addition, draft legislation has been published to transpose aspects of the recruitment transparency requirements.
The current status is as follows:
Employment Equality Acts 1998 – 2021 (here)
• Prohibits indirect pay discrimination on grounds of gender.
• Provides for an entitlement to equal remuneration for like work.
Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 and associated regulations (here)
• This legislation came into force on 31 May 2022 and addresses aspects of the pay reporting requirement (although it preceded the publication of the Directive and therefore does not fully comply with the Directive). It requires employers to annually calculate and publish the mean and median difference in hourly pay and bonuses between male and female employees. This applies to employers with 50+ employees.
General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 (here)
• In January 2025, the General Scheme of this equality bill was published with two provisions aimed at transposing Article 5 of the Directive (which deals with pay transparency prior to employment):
o Firstly, it provides that employers will be required to include salary levels or ranges in job ads.
o Secondly, it states that employers must not ask job applicants about their current or former pay rates.
o We expect these two elements of the Directive may be introduced first.
o This General Scheme has a wider purpose, and the pay transparency elements are just a small part of it.
• The Heads of a Pay Transparency Bill are also being prepared, which we understand will transpose any remaining requirements of the Directive.
• However, in the Government’s Summer 2026 legislative programme, neither the Pay Transparency Bill nor the General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill have been given ‘priority’ status. The Government has confirmed that a phased approach to implementation is planned but the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality has said that it is not possible to give a definite timeline.
Application
Under local law, who are considered to be workers?
Under most Irish employment legislation “worker” is not defined, nor has the legislation transposing the Directive reached such a stage as to set out a definition of “worker”.
What is instructive is the definition of “employee” under existing Irish employment equality legislation, which is “a person who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment and, where the context admits, includes a member or former member of a regulatory body, but, so far as regards access to employment, does not include a person employed in another person's home for the provision of personal services for persons residing in that home where the services affect the private or family life of those persons”.
Of course, even if a similar definition is included in legislation transposing the Directive, this will need to be broadened to consider job applicants.
Has local legislation clarified what should be considered as "pay structures"?
Not yet.
Has local legislation clarified how employers should categorise "work of equal value"?
No, not as regards the transposition of the Directive. However, what may be instructive is that under existing legislation (the Employment Equality Acts), another person shall be regarded as employed to do “like work” if:
(a) both perform the same work under the same or similar conditions, or each is interchangeable with the other in relation to the work;
(b) the work performed by one is of a similar nature to that performed by the other and any differences between the work performed or the conditions under which it is performed by each either are of small importance in relation to the work as a whole or occur with such irregularity as not to be significant to the work as a whole; or
(c) the work performed by one is equal in value to the work performed by the other, having regard to such matters as skill, physical or mental requirements, responsibility and working conditions.
Recruitment and job applicants
What information must an employer provide to job applicants in relation to pay (i.e. what does "initial pay range" include – basic pay, bonus, family leave payments, pension, stock options, etc)?
There is currently no statutory obligation on employers to provide job applicants with an "initial pay range" or salary information during recruitment. Under the new Equality Bill, employers will be required to include salary levels or ranges in the job advertisement.
How and when must this information be provided?
As above. This goes beyond what is provided for in the Directive in that it requires employers to provide the information in the advertisement, as opposed to potentially closer to the interview, as allowed in the Directive.
Does the salary history ban apply equally to internal candidates?
Not yet confirmed.
Can employers' use salary history information already known to them when determining salaries for internal hires/ promotions?
Not yet confirmed, but not expressly prohibited under current legislation.
Does local law require that the job vacancy notices and job titles are gender neutral?
Directive not yet transposed in this regard, however under existing employment equality legislation, employers must not publish or display an advertisement which relates to employment and which indicates an intention to discrimination (including on the ground of gender).
Transparency of pay and pay progression policy
What information must an employer make available to workers about workers’ pay, pay levels and pay progression under local law?
Directive not yet transposed in this regard, however under existing legislation an employee must receive a written statement including the rate or method of calculation of their pay within five days of starting work. In this regard, an employee must be given a statement in writing setting out gross wages, deductions and net wages.
How should this information be provided?
As above.
Has local law clarified what are the "objective and gender-neutral criteria" that should be used to determine pay, pay levels and pay progression?
Not yet.
Are there any exemptions based on headcount?
Not yet confirmed.
Individual rights to pay information
A worker is entitled to request and receive information on:
- their individual pay level; and
- the average pay levels broken down by sex for workers performing the same work as them or work of equal value to theirs
What is considered to be "pay" for the purpose of this provision?
Not yet known. However, under the Gender Pay Gap Regulations 2022, “ordinary pay” means the following types of remuneration, payable to a relevant employee, before any statutory deductions are made –
(a) basic pay,
(b) allowances,
(c) pay for piece-work,
(d) shift premium pay, or
(e) overtime pay
but does not include - (i) remuneration referable to redundancy or termination of employment, or (ii) remuneration other than money.
Can any pay components be excluded for the purposes of calculating gross hourly pay (for example, can voluntary benefits, stock options or "pay" components that do not appear on a payslip be excluded?)
Not yet known. However, under the Gender Pay Gap Regulations 2022, “Remuneration” in relation to an employee does not include pension rights but, subject to that, includes any consideration, whether in cash or in kind, which the employee receives, directly or indirectly, from the employer in respect of the employment.
Within what period of time must the information be provided?
Not yet known. Such individual rights to pay information are not currently addressed under Irish legislation.
How should this information be provided?
Not yet known. Such individual rights to pay information are not currently addressed under Irish legislation.
Are there any exemptions based on headcount?
Not yet known. Such individual rights to pay information are not currently addressed under Irish legislation.
Is a worker entitled to request this information individually and/or through workers representatives and/or through an equality body?
Not yet known. Such individual rights to pay information are not currently addressed under Irish legislation.
What rights does a worker have where the information is alleged to be inaccurate or incomplete?
Not yet known. Such individual rights to pay information are not currently addressed under Irish legislation.
Does an employer need to inform workers of their entitlement to request this information?
Not yet known. Such individual rights to pay information are not currently addressed under Irish legislation.
Does local law require that employers provide this information in the local language, or can it be provided in English?
Not yet known. Such individual rights to pay information are not currently addressed under Irish legislation.
Prohibitions on workers disclosing pay information
Contractual clauses that prevent employees from disclosing information about their pay are prohibited under the Directive.
Can employers impose any restrictions on workers to prevent them from disclosing their own pay, and/or average pay information obtained pursuant to an information request?
Directive not yet transposed in this regard, however currently there is no ban on pay secrecy clauses under Irish law. Such clauses are rare though in Ireland.
If existing contracts contain pay secrecy clauses, what actions (if any) are required to bring those contracts into compliance (e.g., must such clauses be formally rescinded or is the existing pay secrecy clause simply unenforceable)?
Not yet known, as Directive not yet transposed in this regard.
Gender pay gap reporting
Are the pay gap reporting deadlines the same as those set out in the Directive?
Directive not yet fully transposed in this regard, however the reporting requirement under current legislation is annual as set out above.
Please confirm what gender pay gap information employers must provide under local law (and include detail on headcount thresholds).
Directive not yet fully transposed in this regard, however the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 (which preceded the Directive) introduced the legislative basis for annual gender pay gap reporting in Ireland. Since November 2025, all employers with more than 50 employees have been required to publish their Gender Pay Gap Report on their website within five months of their June “snapshot” date, or otherwise make it available to the public where they do not have a website.
Employers are required to publish seven key metrics:
1. The mean and median pay gap in hourly pay between male and female employees
2. The mean and median pay gap in hourly pay between part-time male and female employees
3. The mean and median pay gap in hourly pay between temporary male and female employee
4. The mean and median bonus pay gap between male and female employees
5. The percentage of male and female employees who received bonus pay
6. The percentage of male and female employees who received benefit in kind
7. The percentage of male and female employees in each of four pay band quartiles
Employers must provide a written statement explaining the reasons for any gap and outlining the specific actions, current or planned, to address it.
Does local law specify a uniform reference or “snapshot” date for assessing headcount or pay data for reporting purposes?
Directive not yet fully transposed in this regard, however current legislation has a snapshot date as referred to above in a).
What pay information (if any) is an employer required to publish and where does it need to be published (i.e. on its website).
Directive not yet fully transposed in this regard, however see a) above for current legislative requirements
Is there any information as to how information held by authorities will be published (i.e. will individual employers be named in annual reports or will published gender pay gap information be sector specific and anonymise employers)?
Directive not yet fully transposed in this regard, however under current legislation information is to be made publicy available. In addition, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality has developed an online centralised reporting database: the Gender Pay Gap Portal.
The Gender Pay Gap Portal launched on a voluntary basis in November 2025. Data on the portal is now available for the public to view and compare across a range of metrics.
Employers with over 50 employees will be legally obligated to report their gender pay gap information to the centralised portal for the 2026 reporting cycle.
Does local law specify how employers should consider employees that choose not to identify with a particular gender?
No, but still to be confirmed if legislation fully transposing the Directive will include further clarity.
National Workforce Thresholds
Does national law apply different workforce thresholds than those set out in the Directive (100/150/250 employees) for any pay transparency or reporting obligations?
Irish law sets a lower workforce threshold for gender pay gap reporting than the Directive. Under existing Irish legislation, employers with 50 or more employees are already subject to annual gender pay gap reporting obligations. However, the Directive introduces additional reporting obligations, requiring employers to provide information on the GPG between “categories of workers” and local law does not yet specify what workforce thresholds will apply.
Are there any sector-specific or size-specific exemptions or adjusted requirements?
Directive not yet fully transposed in this regard, however under existing gender pay gap reporting legislation there are no specific industry/sector exemptions, but there are distinct cut-offs based on company size (see responses to Question 7 above).
Dealing with Gaps & Joint Pay Assessments
Where gender pay differences are not justified on the basis of objective, gender-neutral criteria, in what timescale must an employer remedy the situation?
Directive not yet transposed in this regard.
Does local law specify how an employer should remedy the situation?
Directive not yet fully transposed in this regard. Under existing Irish gender pay reporting legislation, there is no requirement for employers to remedy gender pay differences. The obligation on employers currently is simply to report on such information, with a statement as to how they plan to address the differences.
How must an employer work in close cooperation with workers’ representatives, the labour inspectorate and/or the equality body in remedying the situation?
Directive not yet transposed in this regard.
Data Protection
Where the provision of information would lead to the disclosure of the pay of an identifiable worker, does local law limit access to the relevant information and if so, how?
Directive not yet transposed in this regard. and existing Irish gender pay gap reporting legislation does not specifically deal with this issue. Consideration would need to be given to data protection legislation in such instance.
Breach of pay transparency and pay gap reporting requirements
What sanctions, penalties or other measures may be imposed on an employer in the event of breach of gender pay reporting or pay transparency requirements under local law?
Currently, there are no sanctions or penalties under existing gender pay gap reporting legislation for having a gender pay gap or failing to report. Nevertheless, the Workplace Relations Commission (“WRC”) can make an order requiring a report to be produced. There is also scope for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to apply to the Circuit Court or the High Court for an enforcement order in respect of the publication of a report.
As mentioned above, the Directive requires reporting that goes beyond the current Irish gender pay gap reporting legislation, so further transposing legislation in this regard is expected. That legislation is expected to include sanctions, penalties or other measures so as to comply with the Directive.
Rights to equal pay – rights of action
What rights of action under local law are available to a worker as a result of any alleged infringement of the right to equal pay?
A worker may bring an equal pay claim to the WRC where:
(i) they perform "like work" (same work, similar work, or work of equal value);
and (ii) they are paid less than a comparator on one of the nine prohibited discrimination grounds (including gender).
For gender-based equal pay claims, a claimant may alternatively bring proceedings in the Circuit Court rather than before the WRC.
Equal pay claims have been rare in Ireland though.
Workers Representatives
How does local law define ‘workers’ representatives?
Directive not yet transposed in this regard.
Member State Support
What support in terms of technical or other assistance and training has been provided, or is promised, for employers?
In respect of existing gender pay gap reporting, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality has developed an online centralised reporting database: the Gender Pay Gap Portal. The portal launched on a voluntary basis in November 2025. Data on the portal is now available for the public to view and compare across a range of metrics.
The relevant Government department has also confirmed that that a dedicated Irish Employer Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation toolkit, based on the recently published EIGE toolkit, is being commissioned and that employers will be invited to attend training workshops based on this adapted toolkit.
Is this available to all employers or, for example, are there headcount limits?
Employers with over 50 employees will be legally obligated to report their gender pay gap information to the centralised portal for the 2026 reporting cycle. As mentioned above, the Directive goes further than existing irish gender pay gap reporting legislation (by requiring reporting on categories of workers) and it remains to be seen if the transposing legislation will alter this reporting threshold which is currently far lower than that required by the Directive.
To whom must an employer make the joint assessment available?
c) The Gender Pay Gap portal is publically available and can be accessed here.
Other/Additional
Is there anything else notable in your jurisdiction? For example, additional secondary legislation or guidance.
See response to Question 1 above.