Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a difficulty with a code of practice. I speak as someone who practised as a trade union official for many years. I am always reminded of Captain Jack Sparrow when he spoke about the pirates' code and reminded his fellow pirates it was more a set of guidelines than an actual code. I know from years spent as a trade union official that codes of practice do not work when it comes to vindicating employees' rights. That is just my experience and I thought I would put it out there.

"Flexibility" and "agility" are key words these days in terms of business, but they seem one-sided in nature. I will give an example of that in terms of how the general scheme is currently drafted. I echo a point my colleague, Senator Sherlock, was hoping to get a response on earlier. Under the proposed legislation as it stands, an employee must have worked for an employer for six months before he or she can request a right to work remotely. Employers then have three months to consider the request and can demand more elements or meetings to discuss the request further, so it would be close to a year before an employee has an answer. Employees who want to appeal the matter to the WRC could be waiting for up to a further year. Once the request is refused, a person is barred from making a new request for 12 months. My question to both parties is simple. Where is the flexibility or agility in that? Is agility a word that we only use for employers and not for employees?