Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the participants for their patience this morning. They spoke, quite rightly, about balance and proportion and a framework that is fair to everyone. That is what we all want to achieve. I reviewed earlier the international review of the right to request remote working. It is a very useful document but it does prompt the question of why, having revewed legislation from a host of different countries, including New Zealand, did the Department opt initially for a law based, effectively, on the British Tory law passed in 2014? Why is that, given how restrictive it is, and given that we know from 2020 data that the law has not worked? It has only resulted in a 4% increase in flexible working across Britain.