Mr. Neil McDonnell:

This is definitely an employment trend. When job inquiries are being made at the point of recruitment, the manner in which the work will be carried out is now up there with the remuneration discussion. It is definitely an issue. What we are looking to see settle down in particular is updated guidance from the Revenue Commissioners. As the Deputy will know from her other job, what classifies a worker’s contractual place of work is a significant issue. If a contract of work specifies the home as a place of work, that has all sorts of implications. Following on from that, we want to see a great deal more clarity from the HSA on how it is going to look at the workstation. I am working from home at a workstation with a job-provided laptop and a job-provided chair. That is all hunky-dory, but it is not necessarily like that for everyone. Following on from that is the question of employer’s liability insurance. How big a circle insurers are going to draw around that employee is to be confirmed. We would like a bit more comfort on that. I appreciate that not all of this is legislative. The courts and PIAB will have their say on some of this issue, but we need to see some of it settle down.