Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Commissioner is very welcome to Ireland and to this meeting. I was interested in his comments regarding the right to disconnect and remote working. He said that it has a positive impact for rural areas and rural communities across Europe. I am from a region that is within an hour of four cities and prior to the pandemic people travelled back and forth to the cities. It was a round trip of two to three hours every day. They quickly adapted to remote working with Zoom, Microsoft Teams and the like. Like other member states, we are focusing on putting through legislation to support employees with remote working. As the Commissioner said, it creates a great opportunity for rural areas. Something else is possible as well. I could be remote working for a company in Ireland and living in Ireland today, but could decide next week I want to move to Faro in the Algarve. What does the Commissioner see as the European Commission's role over the next months and years regarding the rights of employees and the rights of employers where people will in the future decide, for example, they are working for a company in Dublin but living full time in Italy? How does the Commissioner see his and the Commission's position on that?