What Is the Directive trying to achieve?
The EU Pay Transparency Directive was approved in June 2023 with one core ambition: close the gender pay gap by making pay structures more open, both inside organisations and during the hiring process. The rules require employers to ensure equal pay for equal work, share salary information with job candidates before any discussion of pay takes place, prohibit questions about pay history at interview, and give employees the right to request gender-disaggregated pay data on comparable roles.
These are significant changes to how pay is set, discussed, and governed, and they are coming even if the exact Irish timeline is still being worked out.
Where things stand right now
Ireland will not have its national transposing legislation (the Irish law enacting the directive) passed by 7 June. This matters because the directive only becomes enforceable on employers once Ireland enacts its own law. Without that domestic legal framework, there is no enforcement mechanism in place yet for employers. The Department of Equality has confirmed that employers will not be penalised for not having all elements of the directive in place by June 2026, and implementation will proceed on a phased basis.
The first elements likely to be introduced are the pre-employment obligations, including advertising salary ranges in job postings and prohibiting interviewers from asking about a candidate’s earnings history. The more complex requirements around job evaluation and equal value assessments are expected to follow later, supported by national tools and employer workshops.
It is worth noting that gender pay gap reporting under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 is already live and enforceable. If your organisation has 50 or more employees, that obligation applies to you now, independently of the new directive.
The scale of the challenge is significant. A Mercer survey found that only 6% of Irish employers consider themselves prepared for the directive among the lowest rates in Europe. Separately, Indeed data from March 2026 shows that just 39% of Irish job postings include any salary information, compared to 56% in the UK and 48% in the Netherlands. (Source: RTÉ, May 2026; Littler/Mercer, March 2026)
What’s actually at risk
The delay in Irish legislation can create a false sense of security. Before the law lands, there are three things every employer should understand clearly.
The burden of proof flips
Currently, if an employee wants to bring an equal pay claim, the burden is on them to gather evidence and build a case to support a claim of discrimination. For this reason, equal pay claims have been difficult to bring due to limited access to pay information. However, the directive will significantly strengthen employees’ ability to access pay information and challenge pay disparities. Once the directive is enacted, it will be on the employer to prove that pay decisions were fair, objective, and free from gender bias. Employers with informal or undocumented pay practices will be the most exposed once the directive is transposed into Irish law.
Claims could be backdated to 7 June 2026
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has warned that even without enacted legislation, employees with a valid claim under the directive may ultimately be entitled to seek compensation backdated to 7 June 2026. The legislative delay does not extinguish employee rights. It simply postpones the formal enforcement mechanism. It should be noted that the legal position remains uncertain, therefore employers should be mindful that pay decisions made today could come under scrutiny tomorrow.
A 5% gender pay gap triggers a formal review
If your gender pay gap reporting shows a gap of more than 5% in any category of workers that cannot be objectively justified, the directive requires a formal joint pay assessment with worker representatives and an action plan to address it. This is not discretionary. For organisations that have not yet mapped their pay structures with this level of granularity, the results of that first report could be a surprise.
What employers should do now
The Department of Equality has been explicit: continue your preparation regardless of the delayed timeline. Here is where to focus:
- Include salary information in every job postingStart advertising a pay level or range on all new roles now. This is likely the first obligation to go live and is also the most visible to candidates. Acting early signals confidence and fairness.
- Brief your hiring managersAsking candidates what they currently earn will soon be prohibited. Train your recruiters and hiring managers on compliant interview practice before this becomes a legal exposure.
- Review contracts for pay secrecy clausesAny clause that prevents employees from discussing their pay with colleagues will become unenforceable. Flag these with HR and plan how you will communicate the change internally.
- Write down how pay decisions are madeThe directive requires employers to justify pay using objective, documented criteria: skills, responsibility, experience, performance. If a pay decision was ever based on someone negotiating harder, that will not be a defensible position. Now is the time to build a clear, written framework, not after a complaint arrives.
- Map your pay structures by gender and roleEmployees will have the right to request gender-disaggregated pay data for comparable roles. If you cannot currently produce that analysis, start building the capability now and know what your numbers look like before your employees do.
- Attend the government workshopsThe Department of Equality is expected to facilitate employer workshops in 2026 to help employers work through job evaluation requirements under the Directive. These workshops will be some of the first concrete practical guidance available to employers on compliance and worth prioritising.
The bottom line
Recent Research shows that 67% of Irish employers struggle to develop and update their compensation structures, and 52% feel entirely unprepared for the upcoming transparency requirements.Time is now running out and employers need to prioritise their readiness for EU Pay Transparency.
Whilst I have sympathy with the sentiments that this is an unnecessary burden, particularly on small business, the time for debate is over and it is imperative that workplaces get their ducks in a row. (Damien McCarthy, Assoc. CISP, HR Buddy)
A delay in legislation is not a delay in the underlying expectation. When Irish law does come into force, employers will need to show how pay decisions were made. That evidence needs to exist before a claim is raised, not after. Getting your structures in order now is not just good compliance practice; it is good business.