The Department of Housing and Local Government is looking at incentives to encourage parties to put forward more female candidates in local elections.

Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has backed calls for the Government to find €1m to fund implementation of a 2002 national sexual abuse report, saying a “large-scale” review of the scale of the problem is “worthwhile”.

The gender pay gap means that the average Irish woman has just another week’s wages between now and the new year, while her male counterpart continues to be paid for the full 52 weeks.