Warning of widening gender pay gap

INTRODUCING performance-related pay in the civil and public service could increase the pay gap between men and women, a union leader has warned.

Women still earn 15% less than men on average, despite 30 years of equality legislation, according to Irish Congress of Trade Unions official Mags O'Brien.

Speaking at the biennial conference of IMPACT's 7,000-strong Civil Service Division in Kilkenny, Ms O'Brien said experience showed that performance-related pay and appraisal systems exacerbated the gender pay gap. She urged public sector employers not to "embrace performancerelated pay systems wholeheartedly."