Legislative and policy framework

The Constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hÉireann) contains a general provision that allows the state to give ‘due regard to the differences of capacity, physical and moral, and of social function’ between women and men (Article 40(1)). Gender equality is not mentioned, and Articles 41(2)(1) and 41(2)(2) recognise only a narrow role for women, in the home and as mothers, with no similar passages on fathers.

Gender equality legislation was introduced in the 1970s after Ireland became a member of the European Economic Community. The introduction of broader equality legislation in the Equal Status Acts (2000–2015) and the Employment Equality Acts (1998–2011), together with new equality infrastructure in the 2000s, established protection against discrimination on nine grounds (including gender) in employment and access to services.

A significant gender mainstreaming policy was adopted during the late 1990s and early 2000s when a national development plan (Ireland’s multiannual investment strategy, partly funded by the European Structural Funds) adopted gender mainstreaming as a cross-cutting principle. In compliance with Article 7 of the European Social Fund Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1304/2013), in 2020 a report was prepared for the monitoring committee on the gender equality horizontal principle.[1]

The most recent policy measure remains the 2017–2020 national strategy for women and girls (NSWG), adopted by the government in May 2017 and extended until 2021,[2] with work under way to publish the successor strategy by the end of 2024.[3] While the most recent strategy has expired, the objectives laid out continue to be pursued and will be reflected in the successor strategy. The 2017–2020 NSWG was prepared by the Gender Equality Division of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, with the advice of the Strategy Committee.[4] It tied into relevant EU legislation and provided objectives in key areas of life relating to gender equality.

All government departments are required to formally address gender equality in strategic planning, policies and practices, and annual reports. This forms part of the public sector equality duty set out in Article 42(1) of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, which states that public bodies should consider the need to:

  • eliminate discrimination;
  • promote equality of opportunity and equal treatment of their staff and the people to whom they provide services;
  • protect the human rights of their members, their staff and the people to whom they provide services.

Departments can also consider the gender impact in the development or review of strategies and ensure that the design and review of funding and grant schemes include measures on gender equality.

A strategy committee was appointed in February 2017 to advise the then Department of Justice and Equality on the preparation and implementation of the 2017–2020 NSWG. The committee is now chaired by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.[5] The committee is composed of representatives of all government departments, key public bodies, social partners and civil society, including the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI). Ireland has several other policies to promote gender equality within a range of sectors.

Furthermore, the introduction of the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021, an amendment to the Employment Equality Act 1998, implemented regulations that require certain employers to ‘publish information relating to the remuneration of their employees by reference to the gender of such employees for the purpose of showing whether there are differences in such remuneration referable to gender’.[6] In 2024, organisations with over 150 employees were asked to report on their gender pay gaps for the first time.

Structures

Governmental gender equality body

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth[7] (An Roinn Leanaí, Comhionannais, Míchumais, Lánpháirtíochta agus Óige) is the government’s equality body. Until 2020, it was called the Department for Justice and Equality. It has five divisions, including the International Protection and Equality Division.[8]

It is led by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, who is assisted by two ministers of state, the minister of state with responsibility for disability and the minister of state with responsibility for community development and charities (who is also the minister of state with responsibility for integration).[9]

Functions of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

  • Drafting, monitoring and reviewing gender and anti-discrimination policy, and its implementation and promotion.
  • Coordinating the implementation of gender mainstreaming processes and methodologies, including gender budgeting.
  • Researching EU and international matters, information services, publishing and training related to gender equality.

As of March 2024, there were over 800 employees within the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, with up to approximately 25 % of personnel time dedicated to projects with a focus on gender equality. The 2023 annual expenditure of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth was EUR 7 145 182 000 in 2023, of which 0.7 % was allocated to administrative costs (personnel and overheads) and 0.04 % to non-administrative costs related to gender equality.

Independent gender equality body

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Coimisiún na hÉireann um Chearta an Duine agus Comhionannas (IHREC)) was formed in 2014 as a public body independent of the government. It combines the responsibilities previously held by the (now defunct) Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission. The IHREC also serves as the national equality body for Ireland. The commission has a broad statutory remit concerning the protection and promotion of human rights and equality under the IHREC’s founding act of 2014[10] and reports directly to the Oireachtas (the bicameral parliament).[11]

Functions of the IHREC

  • Protecting and promoting human rights and equality.
  • Encouraging the development of a culture of respect for human rights, equality and intercultural understanding in the state.
  • Promoting understanding and awareness of the importance of human rights and equality in the state.
  • Encouraging good practice in intercultural relations.
  • Promoting tolerance and acceptance of diversity in the state and respect for the freedom and dignity of each person.
  • Working towards the elimination of human rights abuses, discrimination and prohibited conduct.

The IHREC is mandated, under Article 42(5) of the 2014 act, to carry out a review where there is evidence of a failure of a public body to perform its functions, or prepare and implement an action plan in relation to the body’s performance. The IHREC is also mandated to encourage and guide public bodies regarding their duties under the act and has, for example, issued the guidance document Implementing the public sector equality and human rights duty.[12]

The 2023 annual expenditure of the IHREC was EUR 8 299 000, of which 75 % was devoted to administrative costs (personnel and overheads) and 25 % to non-administrative costs related to human rights and equality activities.[13]  It is not possible to assess the costs related to gender equality activities, as the IHREC does not collect and monitor this information, nor does it use equality budgeting metrics.

Parliamentary bodies

There is a system of parliamentary committees in operation within the Oireachtas. It is a matter for the Oireachtas to decide the number and range of committees that should be established, together with their terms of reference.

The work of various committees relates to gender equality. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality was established in 2021 to consider the suggestions from the report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality, including recommendations on wording for a constitutional referendum to incorporate gender equality and non-discrimination.[14] The committee regarded the assembly’s recommendations as a blueprint for achieving a gender equal Ireland and so, over the course of 2022, held a series of hearings on how to best secure their implementation, culminating in a final report, which provided an action plan for change with meaningful timelines for implementation. The committee concluded its work and was dissolved in December 2022, publishing its report Unfinished Democracy: Achieving gender equality.[15]

Consultation with civil society

Consultation with civil society takes place primarily through the steering committee members of the NSWG.

Ireland has a history of consultation with members of the public on issues relating to gender equality. Women’s empowerment and related issues have been considered by the Convention on the Constitution (2012–2016), the 2016–2018 Citizens’ Assembly[16] and, most recently, the 2020–2021 Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality. The 2020–2021 assembly was established with the purpose of making recommendations to the Oireachtas to advance gender equality.[17] The assembly participants were selected to be a representative cross-section of Irish society. The assembly led to the drafting of 45 recommendations and an open letter calling for Ireland’s laws and policies to be transformed to be fit for a more gender equal world.

The NWCI is a key partner of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in the advancement of gender equality and receives core funding from the department. This funding facilitates the advancement of the NWCI strategic plan and the objectives in the 2017–2020 NSWG through NCWI representatives being members of the advisory/steering group. Funding is provided on an annual basis under a grant service agreement to NWCI. In 2024, the council was allocated EUR 678 000.[18]

Methods and tools

Note: the methods and tools listed in section this were the focus of EIGE’s 2024 assessment. If certain methods and tools are not mentioned in this section, this does not necessarily mean that they are not used by Ireland.

The core methods and tools used in Ireland to mainstream gender considerations are impact assessments, gender budgeting and training.

Gender impact assessment

There is no legal obligation in Ireland to undertake an ex ante gender impact assessment when drafting laws and/or policies, plans or programmes.

Despite this, the Cabinet Handbook, an internal government guide that assists ministers and officials in the preparation of matters to be dealt with at government meetings, requires that all substantive memoranda indicate the impact on gender equality. ‘Substantive memoranda’ in this context means any memorandum for which a government decision of a substantive nature is sought, such as:

  • A change in policy;
  • the introduction or abolition of, or a significant change in, an existing scheme;
  • a decision that has an impact on the public at large, or a significant subset of that population;
  • a decision to draft or approve legislation;
  • a decision involving expenditure increases or reductions, or changes in taxation.

Regardless of whether a government department is required to bring a memorandum to government concerning a scheme, completing an equality impact assessment is considered best practice.

Gender budgeting

Equality budgeting was piloted for the 2018 budget, which used gender as a primary axis of equality. In the 2019 budget, the scope of the initiative was extended to other dimensions of inclusiveness, including poverty, socioeconomic inequality and people with disabilities, drawing on a broader range of national equality strategies. 

Ireland began building equality budgeting into its budgetary cycle in line with the ‘Programme for a Partnership Government’ commitment to ‘develop the process of budget and policy proofing as a means of advancing equality, reducing poverty and strengthening economic and social rights’. The programme also includes a commitment to ‘ensure the institutional arrangements are in place to support equality and gender proofing within key government departments’. The 2017–2020 NSWG contained a further commitment to ‘take measures to build capacity within the Civil and Public Service with regard to gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting’.

Training and awareness raising

The 2017–2020 NSWG proposed that to comply with the expectations of gender mainstreaming, all staff in public services would require training on issues like unconscious bias, data collection and gender proofing of all policies, including those related to rural communities and sustainable energy. However, there is no evidence that this takes place systematically, nor is it compulsory.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is currently a national coordinator for a European Commission-supported Technical Support Instrument flagship project titled ‘Gender mainstreaming in public policy and budget processes’.[19] Launched in 2022, the project involved officials from the department and from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, and the Department of Transport. The goal of the project is to produce training manuals on gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting for use across the civil service.

Gender statistics

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) is the main body in Ireland responsible for statistics; however, neither it nor any other organisation has a clear responsibility to collect and manage sex-disaggregated data. A report published semi-regularly, Women and Men in Ireland, presents the limited disaggregation of gender data to date. These reports were issued in 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2019, and are available to download from a dedicated web page.[20] A more recent report has not been generated. Another CSO web page presents progress under sustainable development goal 5, on gender equality.[21]

In 2019, a survey was launched and published by the CSO on gender balance in business.[22] Completed in 2019, 2021 and 2023, the survey provides official statistics on gender representation among senior executive teams and boards of directors of large enterprises in Ireland.

The 2021 Gender Pay Gap Information Act requires certain employers to publish gender-based pay data.[23]  In 2024, companies with over 150 employees were asked to report for the first time. 

Monitoring progress

Ireland's institutional mechanisms for gender equality and gender mainstreaming stand above the EU average, showing progress since 2021.

Explore Ireland's scores on the four key indicators on institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality and gender mainstreaming developed to monitor progress on Area H of the Bejing Platform for Action.

Ireland: Institutional mechanisms for gender equality and gender mainstreaming

References