On 15 January 2025, the Irish Government published a General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024. The Bill is still in the very early stages of development, and there are likely to be further edits and additions to what has been published so far. Similarly, it is also possible that it may not develop any further than this current stage of development.
What is the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024?
The Government’s proposed Bill is aimed at improving pay transparency throughout the job application process in Ireland and is the first step towards the implementation of the EU Pay Transparency Directive before its June 2026 deadline.
So far, there are two main concepts outlined in the General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024; transparency in relation to salary ranges in job advertising, and transparency in relation to pay history.
Salary transparency
The first measure proposed in the General Scheme, which relates to salary transparency in job advertisements, proposes that employers will be required to provide salary range information within the job advert itself.
Pay history transparency
The second measure proposed is that employers will not be entitled to ask candidates for information about their current or previous salaries. This is aimed at tackling pay discrimination – if an employee has been subject to pay discrimination in a previous role, this measure aims to prevent that discrimination from carrying over into their next role.
Updated timeframe for complaints
Additionally, the Bill includes a proposed update to the timeframes in which a complaint can be lodged with the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) under the Employment Equality Act 1998. Currently, there is a six-month window in which a complaint can be made, but it has been proposed that this be increased to 12 months, with the possibility of a further extension to 18 months in certain situations.
What's next?
As mentioned previously, if it does develop beyond this point, there are likely to be further additions and changes made to the contents of this proposed Bill. It will likely be expanded and altered to comply with all elements contained within the EU Pay Transparency Directive, such as pay setting, pay progression, a ban on pay-secrecy clauses, and the right to information.
