Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The short answer is that it is not set in stone. It is up to every Department to identify how it will manage it. It is then up to us when asked how we will support it. We already support not only our own staff to work from home but we have also supported other Departments in this regard. There will be fundamental questions on office accommodation in this city. If we are going to have hybrid working environments there will be a requirement for the Government as an employer to have discussions with our employees on the type of working environment we will have. If 20% of people will be in a different type of working environment there will be a question as to whether we will own the buildings or lease the buildings. There will be different types of conversations not only in Dublin but throughout the country. Someone in Longford or Sligo may be working for the Department of Social Protection. Wherever people are they will be in an OPW-owned, operated or leased building. This will happen organically over a period of time. It will require conversations between us and the parent Departments once the parent Departments have worked out what hybrid working looks like for them.

I have had this discussion with our internal management board and the chairman. We need to start looking at other elements of the public sector, such as local authorities and other State agencies. We have begun to look at partially filled buildings that house local authority buildings, semi-State companies or public agencies. We are looking for Civil Service gaps to be filled by people working in a different environment, such as somebody who might be looking for a remote working environment in Stillorgan. We know the local authority does not have full capacity in that area. We need to start seeing the Civil Service and public sector as "Ireland Inc." rather than two different entities. We need to start looking at how we can collaborate all of our working environments as one "Ireland Inc." working environment. We need to make sure we maximise all of these working spaces before we start looking at building any more. This is very important. It is something the OPW has already started to do in regional Ireland. We need to see whether workspace is available from local authorities, the HSE and other State agencies before we start going off entering into leases, buying buildings or building buildings.

This is what hybrid working and various forms of working will look like as well as working from home. People have jumped to a conclusion that hybrid working will be working from home. It will also be about remote working and working in a local authority office but being a civil servant or being a local authority employee working in a Civil Service office. We have to be open to change. A motor tax official for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council could be working beside somebody from the Department of Social Protection. We are all working for "Ireland Inc." and we should be prepared to look at these models and not be so protective of the type of offices we are working in.