Ms Joanne Mangan:

This is a very good question. Over the coming year we will see more cost-benefit analysis on remote working, which is needed,. It is not quite clear. Take the example of individuals working from home. Are the additional costs they may have in terms of their electricity and heating offset by the fact they do not have to commute and they do not have to pay for their lunch? We can get into a lot of granular detail on the potential savings.

For the company, the answer to the question is "Yes". There is an upfront cost in setting up people to work remotely. If they work in their home, it is common practice in most companies to provide employees with everything needed to do so, including a laptop, monitor, mouse, keyboard, and usually a desk and chair. At the start of the pandemic, companies were not providing the desk and chair, for example, but as time evolved, they realised from a health and safety point of view they had to make sure their employees had a decent place to work and a good chair to sit on. Mr. Hegarty may talk about this as well, but most companies offer a stipend for employees to purchase the equipment or provide the equipment. It depends on the size of the company. Larger companies provide it and send it out when the employee starts. Smaller companies may give the employee some money. The stipend can vary. I have seen figures varying from €300 to €1,500 per employee, depending on the size of the organisation.

The Deputy is correct about the hub. There is a cost for space in a hub and hubs face additional costs. That is something to consider. We need to work out the business case. The business case for remote working has not been worked out in terms of the economics. There is an upfront cost, but also potential cost saving for the business in terms of office space and rates paid on that space, which are significant, and in terms of better retention and less attrition, sick days and absenteeism, which we see with remote working. There are many variables. As we move forward and get into a more steady state with remote working, more work will be done on figuring out what the business case is. We are happy to work with companies and some of our partner companies to try to figure it out. We are keen to get started on that.