Since the introduction of gender pay gap reporting in Ireland, the scope of those required to report has increased from employers with over 250 employees in 2022, to those with 50 or more employees for this reporting period. 2025 is also the first year in which the deadline to report has been forward from December to November.
A centralised, publicly accessible online portal for gender pay gap reporting is set to be launched shortly. However, until regulations are enacted requiring employers to report on the portal, the current obligation remains to publish the report on the organisations website or, if the organisation does not have a website, in physical form for inspection during normal business hours.
The statistics reported since the introduction of gender pay gap reporting have shown gradual improvement. Although progress is uneven, several noteworthy patterns have emerged. Reports tend to focus on improvements to the mean gender pay gap; however, a small gender pay gap is not a guarantee of gender equality. The mean gap compares the average earnings of all men and women in an organisation; it does not determine whether employees doing the same job are paid the same. Therefore organisations reporting a low gender pay gap could still have few women in senior roles because of how the workforce is structured. Through our work on gender pay gap reports, we continue to identify trends that shed light on the underlying reasons for gender pay gaps and what steps organizations can take to address them.
The Pay Transparency Directive (the ‘PTD’), which is due to be transposed into Irish law by June 2026, will expand and deepen employers obligations. Employers will be required to go beyond simply reporting aggregated pay gaps and will need to break down gender pay differences by category, make paid data available to employee representatives and regulators and, follow more rigorous rules on transparency and accountability. For more information on the Pay Transparency Directive, see here.
With the broadening of Ireland’s gender pay gap regime and the PTD, for employers this means proactive data management, transparent communications and real strategic effort to ensure pay fairness is not just reported, but realised in practice.
If you’d like any advice on your gender pay gap reporting obligations, please contact our team.
