SDG 5.a.1 (a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; and (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure - data on farm holders is published in the CSO, Farm Structure Survey.
The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.a.1 metadata document:
The indicator consists of two sub-indicators.
Sub-indicator 5.a.1 (a):
Number of people in agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land × 100, divided by Total agricultural population x 100, by sex
Sub-indicator 5.a.1 (a) is a prevalence measure. It measures the prevalence of people in the agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, disaggregated by sex.
Sub-indicator 5.a.1 (b):
Number of women in the agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land divided by Total in the agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land x 100, by type of tenure
Sub-indicator 5.a.1 (b) focuses on gender parity, measuring the extent to which women are disadvantaged in ownership or secure rights over agricultural land. Broad types of tenure identified by the IAEG-SDG are freehold, customary and leasehold.
The Farm Structure Survey 2023 provides a comprehensive snapshot of the agricultural activity on Irish farms in 2023. The results provide detail on the following categories of Irish agriculture; farm structure, farm holder demographics, livestock, land utilisation, organic farming, the agriculture labour force, standard output, farm machinery and soil management.
There were 133,174 farms in Ireland in 2023, a 5% decrease since 2013. According to the Demographic Profile of Farm Holders there were 115,655 (86.8%) male farm holders and 17,519 (13.2%) female farm holders.
Over the ten-year period from 2013 to 2023, there was an increase in the percentage of female farm holders. In 2023, the percentage of female farm holders was 13.2%, compared to 11.9% in 2013. See Table 6.1 and Figure 6.1.
| Male | Female | |
| 2013 | 88.1 | 11.9 |
| 2016 | 88.3 | 11.7 |
| 2020 | 86.6 | 13.4 |
| 2023 | 86.8 | 13.2 |
In 2023, the West region had the highest proportion of female farm holders (13.9%). The Midlands region had the lowest proportion with 11.6%.
The county with the highest proportion of male farm holders was Monaghan (89.8%), while Mayo reported the highest proportion of female farm holders (15.5%). See Table 6.2 and Map 6.1.
In general, larger farms were more likely to have a male holder, approximately 90% of the farm holders for farms larger than 50 ha were male.
17.4% of farm holders on farms less than 10 ha were female, compared to 13.2% for all farm sizes. See Table 6.3.
Specialist dairying farms had the highest proportion of male holders (92.8%) while mixed field crops farms had the highest proportion of female farm holders (22.9%). See Table 6.4.
SDG 5.a.2 Proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control is guaranteed under the Constitution of Ireland.
The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.a.2 metadata document:
Indicator 5.a.2 assesses the extent to which the national legal frameworks (including customary law) guarantee women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control.
The indicator measures the level to which a country’s legal framework supports women’s land rights, by testing that framework against six proxies drawn from international law and internationally accepted good practices , in particular the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) ratified by 189 countries, and the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of the Tenure of Land Fisheries and Forestry (VGGT) endorsed unanimously by Committee of Food Security (CFS) members in 2012.
Article 40 in the Constitution of Ireland refers to personal rights and states:
1.0 All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law. This shall not be held to mean that the State shall not in its enactments have due regard to differences of capacity, physical and moral, and of social function.
3.1 The State guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate the personal rights of the citizen.
3.2 The State shall, in particular, by its laws protect as best it may from unjust attack and, in the case of injustice done, vindicate the life, person, good name, and property rights of every citizen.
SDG 5.b.1 Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex has 2 sources:
The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.b.1 metadata document:
The proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex is defined as the ‘proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex’.
ComReg released their Irish Communications Market Summary: Quarterly Key Data Report (PDF 2.4 MB) in December 2024 with data for Q3 2024.
At the end of Q3 2024 there were 10,145,572 mobile subscriptions in Ireland, including mobile broadband (‘MBB’) and Machine to Machine (‘M2M’). If mobile broadband subscriptions (394,408) and M2M subscriptions (3,871,056) are excluded, the total number of mobile voice subscriptions was 5,880,108 (Ireland's Census 2022 population was 5.15 million). See Table 6.5.
The Frequency of Internet Usage chapter in the CSO Internet Coverage and Usage in Ireland 2024 publication shows the frequency of internet usage in 2024.
Key findings of broad frequency of use:
The Devices Used chapter in the CSO Internet Coverage and Usage in Ireland 2023 publication provides detail on the devices used to access the internet in 2023. What the data shows is that phones are by far the most popular device used to access the internet, with older persons more likely to use a laptop for internet access than younger persons.
Key findings of devices used to access the internet:
See Table 6.7.
SDG 5.c.1 Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment - information in respect of SDG 5.c.1 is provided by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Department of Justice, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and NDP Delivery and Reform.
The SDG indicators metadata repository provides the following definition in the SDG 5.c.1 metadata document:
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 5.c.1 seeks to measure government efforts to track budget allocations for gender equality throughout the public finance management cycle and to make these publicly available. This is an indicator of the characteristics of the fiscal system. It is not an indicator of the quantity or quality of finance allocated for gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE). The indicator measures three criteria. The first focuses on the intent of a government to address GEWE by identifying if it has programs/policies and resource allocations for GEWE. The second assesses if a government has planning and budget tools to track resources for GEWE throughout the public financial management cycle. The third focuses on transparency by identifying if a government has provisions to make allocations for GEWE publicly available.
The indicator aims to encourage national governments to develop appropriate budget tracking and monitoring systems and commit to making information about allocations for gender equality readily available to the public. The system should be led by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the sectoral ministries and National Women’s Machineries and overseen by an appropriate body such as Parliament or Public Auditors.
Gender equality goals are set out in the whole-of-Government statements of priority on gender equality which include the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020, and its successor, currently being developed; ‘Zero Tolerance, The 3rd National Strategy for Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence’; the 3rd National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, as well as in other policies such as the National Maternity Strategy 2016-2026. Gender equality goals are also included in mainstream policies such as the National Carers Strategy; the National Physical Activity Plan; the 2nd HSE National Intercultural Strategy; and the National STEM Education Implementation Plan to 2026.
Funding for activities under the above whole-of-Government policies is provided for in the Vote of the relevant Government Department. The Constitution provides for the Comptroller and Auditor General to carry out an audit of the State's accounts every year and report to Dáil Éireann. The audit also examines whether expenditure has been applied in the manner specified by law. The reports are examined by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, which has a role to play in ensuring that there is accountability and transparency in the way Government agencies allocate, spend and manage their finances.
Equality Budgeting was introduced in Ireland in 2018 and has progressed considerably since, from its gender roots to broadening its scope to other dimensions of equality including poverty, socioeconomic inequality, disability and minority groups. The number and quality of equality metrics has significantly improved in the interim period. Equality budgeting includes all nine grounds of discrimination under Ireland’s Equality legislation, which includes gender, as well as socio-economic status. Equality Budgeting metrics are reported at two points in the budgetary cycle: in the Revised Estimates Volume (REV), where target metrics are set for the year ahead and the Public Service Performance Report published annually to review if such targets were met.
Ex ante gender impact assessment is carried out on key policies and programmes. Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) is a tool used for the structured exploration of different options to address particular policy issues, where one or more of these options is new regulation or a regulatory change. The RIA Guidelines provide for considering the potential impacts on people of different genders, marital status, family status, ages, disabilities, sexual orientation, race, religion and on members of the Traveller community.
Ex post gender impact assessment is also carried out on key policies and programmes. Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is an analytical framework that is designed to examine the demographic profile of public services users, and how they are impacted by budgetary policy decisions.
A Focused Policy Assessment (FPA) is an evaluation methodology designed to answer specific issues of policy configuration and/or delivery. While FPA’s can take on several forms this type of analysis is concentrated on assessing the performance of programmes with a view to recommending changes, if necessary. In terms of evaluation criteria as per Value for Money Review and Focused Policy Assessment Guidelines, FPAs are expected to examine one or more of the following: rationale for a scheme/programme; improving efficiency; effectiveness; impact; and or to make the scheme more relevant in terms of its aims and objectives.
It should be noted that the above assessments form just one part of the wider analysis that is undertaken by government departments annually, with departments publishing various different types of staff papers and independent reviews on their own departmental websites. Well-being and equality considerations also form part of the larger context of evidence informed policy making across the civil service conducted by specialists from across the civil service, such as from members of the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service (IGEES), statisticians, data analysts, and other experts in economic and social policy analysts). For further information please see Well-being and Performance Budgeting.
Limited data is currently available for this indicator.
Criterion 1. Which of the following aspects of public expenditure are reflected in your government programs and its resource allocations? In the last completed fiscal year) |
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Question 1.1. Are there policies and/or programs of the government designed to address well identified gender equality goals, including those where gender equality is not the primary objective (such as public services, social protection and infrastructure) but incorporate action to close gender gaps? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes Gender equality goals are set out in the whole-of-Government statements of priority on gender equality which include the National Strategy for Women and Girls 2017-2020; in Zero Tolerance - The 3rd National Strategy for Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence; the 3rd National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, as well as in other policies such as the National Maternity Strategy 2016-2026. Gender equality goals are also included in mainstream policies such as the National Carers Strategy; the National Physical Activity Plan; the 2nd HSE National Intercultural Strategy and the National STEM Education Implementation Plan to 2026. |
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Question 1.2. Do these policies and/or programs have adequate resources allocated within the budget, sufficient to meet both their general objectives and their gender equality goals? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes Funding for activities under the above whole-of-Government policies are provided for in the Vote of the relevant Government Department. |
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Question 1.3. Are there procedures in place to ensure that these resources are executed according to the budget? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes The Constitution provides for the Comptroller and Auditor General to carry out an audit of the State's accounts every year and report to Dáil Eireann. The audit also examines whether expenditure has been applied in the manner specified by law. The reports are examined by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, which has a role to play in ensuring that there is accountability and transparency in the way Government agencies allocate, spend and manage their finances. |
Criterion 2. To what extent does your Public Financial Management system promote gender-related or gender-responsive goals? (In the last completed fiscal year) |
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Question 2.1. Does the Ministry of Finance/budget office issue call circulars, or other such directives, that provide specific guidance on gender-responsive budget allocations? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes |
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Question 2.2. Are key policies and programs, proposed for inclusion in the budget, subject to an ex ante gender impact assessment? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes From Revised RIA Guidelines (2009) – 4.47: “The RIA should also consider the potential impacts on people of different genders, marital status, family status, ages, disabilities, sexual orientation, race, religion and on members of the traveller community.” |
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Question 2.3. Are sex-disaggregated statistics and data used across key policies and programs in a way which can inform budget-related policy decisions? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Not in a systematic way. |
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Question 2.4. Does the government provide, in the context of the budget, a clear statement of gender-related objectives (i.e. gender budget statement or gender responsive budget legislation)? (Yes=1/No=0) |
No |
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Question 2.5. Are budgetary allocations subject to “tagging” including by functional classifiers, to identify their linkage to gender-equality objectives? (Yes=1/No=0) |
No |
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Question 2.6. Are key policies and programs subject to ex post gender impact assessment? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is an analytical framework that is designed to examine the demographic profile of public services users, and how they are impacted by budgetary policy decisions. |
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Question 2.7. Is the budget as a whole subject to independent audit to assess the extent to which it promotes gender-responsive policies? (Yes=1/No=0) |
No |
Criterion 3. Are allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment made public? (In the last completed fiscal year) |
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Question 3.1. Is the data on gender equality allocations published? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes |
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Question 3.2. If published, has this data been published in an accessible manner on the Ministry of Finance (or office responsible for budget) website and/or related official bulletins or public notices? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) |
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Question 3.3. If so, has the data on gender equality allocations been published in a timely manner? (Yes=1/No=0) |
Yes REV is published annually towards end Q4; Performance Report published annually at beginning Q2 (later this year due to pandemic). |
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