Gender pay gap reporting in Ireland, 2026

Who has to report

Section 20A of the Employment Equality Act 1998, inserted by the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021, set a phased start. The Regulations then lowered the threshold twice:

The headcount is everyone employed on the snapshot date, including people on leave and people not rostered that day. The duty covers the private, public and community and voluntary sectors. A group can report for each legal entity, and may also publish combined figures; the Department’s FAQ notes the portal takes one report per registered employer each year. An employer that drops below 50 after the snapshot date still reports for that year.

The snapshot date and the deadline

You choose any date in June as the snapshot date. The figures cover the people employed on that date and their pay over the 12 months ending on it. Regulation 6(1) originally allowed 6 months to publish; since 31 May 2025 it says not later than 5 months after the snapshot date (S.I. No. 212 of 2025).

The first two rows are the examples in the Department’s FAQ and guidance note.

What to publish: eleven measures and a statement

Every gap is (A − B) ÷ A × 100, with A the figure for men. Where the figures show differences, the employer also publishes a statement setting out, in its opinion, the reasons for them and the measures it is taking or proposes to take to reduce them (regulation 6(4)).

How hourly remuneration is worked out

Unlike the UK, Ireland uses the whole 12-month period: ordinary pay plus bonus remuneration paid in the 12 months, divided by the hours worked in those 12 months (regulations 3 and 4).

• Ordinary pay is basic pay, allowances, piece-work pay, shift premium pay and overtime pay, before statutory deductions. Redundancy and termination payments and remuneration other than money are left out. Since 2024, payments during maternity, adoptive, parent’s and paternity leave count as basic pay, and the FAQ says to include employer top-ups, or the benefit paid where there is no top-up.
• Bonus remuneration is money, vouchers or shares relating to profit sharing, productivity, performance, incentive or commission. Overtime and benefits in kind are not bonus.
• Benefits in kind are non-cash benefits with an estimated money value, including share options and interests in shares. They count only for the benefits in kind percentage.
• Hours are the contracted hours where they are fixed. Where they vary, take the hours of the last 12 full weeks, divide by 12 and multiply by 52.18, or a fair estimate for someone with less than 12 weeks.
• Part-time employees have the meaning in the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001. The Regulations do not define temporary contracts, so use your own contract records.
• Someone employed on the snapshot date but not yet paid is in the headcount and left out of the hourly pay calculations (FAQ Q12). An employee who does not identify as male or female may be omitted from the calculations and is still counted (FAQ Q5).

A worked example

Eight employees, snapshot date 30 June 2026, pay period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026:

Hourly remuneration is (ordinary pay + bonus) ÷ hours: M1 is €42,000 ÷ 2,000 = €21.00.

For the mean gap: (17.00 − 14.50) ÷ 17.00 × 100 = 14.7%. Ranked by hourly pay, the eight split into bands of two: lower W3 and M3, lower middle W2 and M2, upper middle W4 and W1, upper M4 and M1. So the lower two bands are 50% men and 50% women, the upper middle band is 100% women and the upper band 100% men. The calculator gives the same figures from this data.

Where the report goes

The Regulations require publication on your website, where employees and the public can see it, for at least three years; an employer without a website makes it available for inspection at its registered office or principal place of business (regulation 6(2) and (3)).

The Department of Children, Disability and Equality opened the Gender Pay Gap Portal on a voluntary basis in November 2025. Its gov.ie page, updated 19 June 2026, says employers with over 50 employees will be legally obliged to report on the portal for the 2026 cycle, still publish on their own website, and that amendments giving the portal a statutory basis have been drafted. Its FAQ for employers, updated 18 June 2026, says the same and that the 2026 deadline falls in November.

Enforcement: the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission can ask the Circuit Court or the High Court to order an employer to comply, and an employee can refer a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (sections 85B and 85C of the Act).