Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses for coming and for joining us remotely. I have a couple of questions. I share a lot of the concerns Ms Mangan has about legislation that is, effectively, in some respects, a charter for an employer just to say "No". Some of the difficulty we have is that remote working is seen as a bit of a gift, something you have to earn, something you might get after a service qualification, a benefit that accrues with service rather than an actual way to run a company. I hear what Ms Mangan says about the cultural shift that is required. I also understand what she says about the limitations of proposed legislation, but if this is not driven by positive legislation, we will end up simply codifying the reasons workers will be just told no, and that is not good enough.

I welcome the fact that the Tánaiste has recognised that the Bill is flawed in many aspects and has indicated that he will accept amendments.

Hearings such as this are very valuable. It means we can construct those amendments and make sure that we can make the legislation fit for purpose and make it work and drive the change Ms Mangan talked about. Ms Mangan mentioned she was working on mapping remote workers. I was not aware of that. It is very welcome. When will that work be completed? What will the map look like in terms of where remote workers are?