Mr. Dermot Mulligan:

I thank the Senator for the question. On how the proposed legislation can be termed "landmark" and how it advances the Making Remote Work strategy, the first action in that document published by the Department was to "Legislate to provide employees the right to request remote work". It is a right that has not so far existed, so this proposed legislation is landmark in that sense. It is the first and central action contained in the remote working strategy published by the Department.

Regarding the balance between employers and employees, and we have heard today and previously several different views concerning where the balance lies in this regard and what is the appropriate balance, we would be the first to say that is not an easy thing to arrive at. We are working through the various legal and policy issues to try to find what the appropriate balance in this regard should be and how it should be expressed in this proposed legislation. This is very much a work in progress.

Turning to the 26-week wait and the commute, I ask my colleagues to comment on those aspects. Mr. Doheny has already spoken a little about these points.