The EU Pay Transparency Directive: what Irish employers need to know before June 2026
From June 2026, every employer in the EU that advertises a job will have to show the pay range on it. Not optional. Not "for roles over X euro". Every job ad. Here's what Directive 2023/970 actually requires, who it applies to, and the three changes you should make now.
What the Directive actually says
Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency was adopted in May 2023 and member states have until 7 June 2026 to transpose it into national law. The Irish government set out its implementation approach in early 2025, covering the recruitment-stage obligations directly. Three provisions matter most to anyone hiring:
- Pay range disclosure before interview. Employers must provide the initial pay or pay range to applicants before interview — and in practice, most will put it on the job ad itself because the alternative is fielding the same question on every phone screen.
- No salary history questions. Employers can no longer ask candidates about their current or previous salary during recruitment.
- Gender-neutral job advertisements and titles. Roles must be advertised in gender-neutral terms, with neutral job titles where feasible.
Separately, employers with 100+ workers will have ongoing pay reporting obligations (gender pay gap reporting), but those are company-level, not ad-level. The ad-level obligations hit everyone from your local café to Apple's Hollyhill plant.
Who does this apply to?
Every employer operating in Ireland that advertises a job. There is no small-business exemption on the recruitment-stage disclosure. A three-person café posting a barista role is in the same boat as a multinational hiring an engineering team. The Directive doesn't distinguish by employer size when it comes to showing pay on ads.
That's what makes this different from gender pay gap reporting (which has employee-count thresholds). If you're posting a job, the disclosure rule applies to you.
What counts as "pay information"?
The standard expectation is a specific range — either an hourly rate range (€13.50 – €15/hr) or a salary band (€34k – €38k). What doesn't count:
- "Competitive salary"
- "DOE" (dependent on experience)
- "Negotiable"
- A single starting point with no ceiling ("from €30k")
- Pay disclosed only after the interview stage
The range should be specific enough that a reasonable candidate can decide whether to apply. "€15,000 – €200,000" technically is a range but wouldn't pass the common-sense test. The Irish Workplace Relations Commission will have enforcement authority, and the penalty structure — like most Irish employment law — will allow individual complaints alongside systemic investigations.
The single biggest behavioural change for Irish employers isn't the disclosure itself. It's that the disclosure becomes a competitive signal. Employers with honest ranges will attract more applicants. Employers with "negotiable" will be ignored.
Three changes to make now
1. Audit every currently posted job ad
Go through your active listings on Indeed, Jobs.ie, LinkedIn, and your own careers page. How many have a specific pay range? If it's less than 100%, you have a compliance gap to close. Start with the roles you hire most frequently — those are where the habit forms.
2. Agree pay ranges internally before posting
A lot of "competitive salary" postings happen because the manager hasn't actually agreed a range with finance or HR. Fix this process now, because June 2026 isn't going to give you flexibility to delay. If the answer to "what does this role pay?" isn't clear internally, you'll have a bad time externally.
3. Standardise gender-neutral job titles
"Waitress", "salesman", "handyman", "cleaning lady" — these are still common on Irish job ads and need to go. Not because the Directive single-handedly stamps them out, but because they're a fast way to get a complaint. "Waiter", "sales representative", "maintenance person", "cleaner" — all neutral, all clearer to candidates.
The competitive angle most employers miss
Most of the conversation about the Directive frames it as a compliance burden. It's not, really. Pay transparency is well-documented to increase applicant quality — candidates self-select based on whether the pay works for them, which means the people who apply are more likely to accept. The UK's Reed has reported that pay-transparent ads receive substantially more qualified applications than ads without.
Employers who adopt specific pay ranges before June 2026 will have a period where their ads stand out from the ones still using vague language. By the summer, everyone will be doing it, and the novelty advantage goes away. Moving now means six to eight weeks of differentiation.
Where DEALT fits
We built DEALT around this Directive. Every listing on DEALT requires a specific pay range — not a soft suggestion, enforced at the database level. There's literally no way to post a job without it. If you're an Irish employer looking at the June deadline and wondering how to change your hiring workflow, one option is to just use a platform that makes the compliant behaviour the default.
Start posting jobs on DEALT today. It's free for verified employers, and your listings are Directive-compliant by construction.