Ms Margaret Cox:

I thank the Senator for his kind comments regarding the ICE Group and the people who work with us on the ground in Galway. When we started this journey, I was the proverbial St. Paul on the road to Damascus. The Senator knows Felim McDonnell, my co-director. I told Felim a four-day week would never work in the ICE Group as we were too small an organisation and would not be able to make it happen.

However, what is very important is asking what we, as an organisation, a government or a country, can we do and how we can make it happen. I refer to the benefits available to Ireland. If we can make Ireland the best place to work and live, we will give ourselves a unique selling point in terms of the global outlook we have as a country to invest in. It is about flipping it over and asking what we need to do to make it happen. I refer to what has been done in the past 18 months.

Businesses, schools, hospitals and other bodies have done things we never would have thought possible. The same is true of the Oireachtas. Who would have thought we could be having an Oireachtas hearing on this issue involving six outside participants on a Teams link? My message to the committee today and to the Government is we must open our minds and look at the opportunities that exist. I see this an opportunity for the better for Ireland, specifically in terms of where we are positioning ourselves in the global employment and living market.