Perhaps the Minister for Justice and Equality will come to the House either later today or tomorrow to tease out those matters in some detail.

I want to raise a different issue, namely, the gap between the earnings of men and women, which worsened from 12% in 2002 to 14% according to the most recent figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO. That means women are working for more than a month free of charge compared to men annually. One of the great benefits of joining the European Union was a requirement of equal pay for equal work, as well as the abolition of the naked bias, such as the law which required women to leave the public service on marriage. We brought in equal pay legislation in 1974 - a long time ago - but we still await pay parity. In the past, this was explained by differences in qualifications between men and women. Today, however, significantly more young women than men have third-level qualifications. Previously, we might have explained that the pay gap happened because many women stopped working while their children were in school. This is no longer the case for a great number of families.

There is a gender difference in the professions taken up by men and women which, in turn, might explain some of the differences in pay. There is a question, however, about whether we value women’s work as much as we do that of men. There is a real question as to whether men and women are being paid equally for the same work.

The Labour Party has progressed legislation through all Stages in the Seanad for the mandatory reporting by larger companies of the levels of pay by gender. The Government has promised its own legislation in this area but it has not been delivered. We are happy to work with the Government through all Dáil Stages to ensure this legislation can be swiftly enacted into law. We know mandatory reporting has worked in other countries and we believe it will work here. In some cases, companies may not even be aware of the extent of the wage differences in their own workforce. Ignorance is no excuse, however. The legislation which the Labour Party has put forward would remove that excuse.

Does the Government agree that a 14% gender pay gap is both unacceptable and unsustainable? Will it undertake to support the Labour Party's legislation, which has already been passed by the Seanad, and help it through the Dáil as the swiftest mechanism to address this important issue?

The Government accepts that the gender pay gap of 14% is unacceptable, unfair and a hallmark of gender inequality in our society. The Deputy will also be aware that such pay gaps are not unique to Ireland and exist across the developed world, including, even, very progressive Nordic countries which have larger gender pay gaps than Ireland. However, that does not make it in any way acceptable. Equal pay for equal work was introduced in 1974 as a consequence of European law and it has made a real difference. More than 30 years later, however, we continue to have a gender pay gap for multiple reasons. One reason is that more women work on a part-time basis than men, which is often because women are still expected to bear the greater burden of caring in society, including caring for children and older people, and are likely to work part-time as a result. That is not something that is simple to change. It can be changed, however, by providing more subsidised childcare, as we are doing, and by providing paternity benefit to men so that more men take up caring roles. That is one of the things that has to change.

Another issue is, of course, gender bias in promotions. I attended the National Gallery yesterday with the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, for the launch of the actions we are taking in the higher education sector. This is just one example. While approximately 50% of the lecturers in our universities and institutes of technology are female, it is only 25% when one gets up to the professor level. It is evident that we need to put accelerators in place so that more women are promoted and in that way help to close the gender pay gap. The Deputy will be aware of the decisions we made in that regard yesterday. They are very progressive, albeit controversial in parts. On 26 June last, we approved the general scheme of the gender pay gap information Bill. The Joint Committee on Justice and Equality will carry out pre-legislative scrutiny on the general scheme on 21 November. That is in only eight days' time. I appeal to all parties in the House to get that scrutiny done quickly and before the end of the year so that we can proceed to legislate.

That the gap in other countries is worse is, the Taoiseach says, no excuse and yet he uses it as an excuse. We have a vehicle in the Bill passed by the Seanad. We can pass it here readily. The notion that we will start a new Bill with pre-legislative scrutiny in a couple of weeks' time with no prospect of enactment in the current calendar year makes a nonsense of new politics. If the Government is serious about addressing the issue, it will surely not matter whether the Bill comes from the Labour Party or is drafted by Government. There was no fundamental issue with the legislation as it passed through the Seanad and, in fact, a promise to support it was made. Why will the Taoiseach not simply address this issue if he agrees that it is one of critical importance and that gender-biased pay is unacceptable? Let us start the process by shining a light on companies' pay bills and determine how exactly they fare in gender-focused pay terms. I ask the Taoiseach again to simply accept the legislation. If he wants to amend it on Committee Stage, let us do that but let us also get this done rather than pretend to want to address it while resisting the mechanism for doing so when it is presented.

I was not attempting to offer an excuse. While we have a long way to go, no one can dispute the Government's good record. It has done a great deal in respect of gender equality and advancing the rights and freedoms of women in our society. I mentioned it simply to point out the complexity of the issue. It surprises people to hear that some of the Nordic countries with subsidised childcare and a long-standing history of gender equality and progress have larger gender gaps than Ireland.

That demonstrates the number of factors in play and how what may appear to be solutions at first glance prove not to be so on further examination. I do not wish to engage in a contest with the Labour Party on this matter. Rather, I want the legislation to be passed.

Hear, hear.

I do not care whether the Government Bill or the Labour Party Bill goes first or who gets credit for it. However, the Government has some difficulties with the Labour Party Bill as it empowers the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to draw up a gender pay gap reporting scheme but leaves the decision on whether to do so at its discretion.

We can change that.

The Labour Party Bill would require many amendments to make it acceptable to the Government, including amendments to the Long and Short Titles. For those reasons, we would rather proceed with the Government Bill.

To change the Title of the Bill is a big barrier.

I am not interested in a contest with the Labour Party over the credit for bringing forward the legislation which will be before the joint Oireachtas committee in eight days' time. Let us get it done.

Pre-legislative scrutiny is not the normal starting point.