State bodies that have not reached the target of having 40% of their board made up of women, will be required to set out the measures that will be taken to deliver on this target under new requirements.
Ministers are also to be informed of the gender balance on particular state boards at the time that they are making further appointments, as part of the plans.
Announced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath today, the new rules will supplement the existing Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies, produced in 2016.
"Although there has been very good progress in improving gender equality in State boards, still, as of last year approximately 40% of State Boards did not yet meet this requirement," he said.
"Ireland is making good progress at achieving gender balance on State boards, but the progress is uneven and is far from complete. We need to do more."
State boards will have to report each year on the progress they have made in promoting equality, diversity and inclusion within their organisation.
In order to improve their effectiveness, the measures also require boards to expand evaluation processes to consider issues around gender diversity.
The annex published by the Minister today also says board terms should be varied to allow for an acceleration towards better gender balance in membership.
There will also be new reporting measures designed to provide greater transparency around boards which have not reached appropriate levels of gender balance.
Today's move follows the publication of the findings of an inter-departmental group set up to report on gender balance in state bodies.
It founds significant progress had been made in recent years to improved gender equality on state boards but that only 48% of individual boards had met the 40% target.
