Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is never going to be easy to legislate on this issue because there always will be employees who might try to take the piss and there also will be employers who might just say "No" to remote working because they are control freaks. It is difficult because each employer and employee is individual and every job is individual. It is a challenge to legislate because the law applies to everybody. I appreciate the nuance that is needed in this regard.

When I worked remotely from home and sometimes felt the need to see other humans, I had to pay to use the local hub. My employer would not pay for it. Consideration might be given to introducing a reduced rate for people in that situation or requiring employers to pay for it if they are letting people work full-time from home. I had it in my head that if I am using my home office to work for an employer, I am saving that company from having to rent or otherwise provide office space for me. It is something to think about. In using my own electricity and heating, I saved my employer a lot of money. I would expect a company to set employees up properly to work in their own home. In my case, my employers did that but, at the same time, I had to pay to use the hub and I paid for my own heating and electricity usage. The company did pay for my broadband usage, or most of it, which was good.

I wish the witnesses the best of luck in this. It will not be easy to please everybody. I would love to hear about the mistakes that have been made in Britain. I do not know whether we should set our bar in accordance with anything that is done there. If my memory serves me correctly, it has never been a place that is great at managing workers' rights. However, we must learn from others. I am not sure what the witnesses have learned from Grow Remote or other companies that have facilitated remote working and whether such learning has helped them to formulate the Bill. I thank them for their continued work on this issue.