Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I would not have a problem with the right to have remote working, but perhaps that is just me. I suggest that the Department start from the premise that all requests are granted unless there is a good reason not to. It has to trust people as well. Some people's work cannot be done remotely. We could not have our emergency department nurses working remotely.

However, I doubt if any of them is going to request it either. If the Department was to come at this from the positive perspective, as it were, of the worker, one would assume all requests would be granted, save for cases where there is a good reason not too, rather than starting with a menu of options for saying "No", and we then build on that and undermine the redress and so forth. The Department has come at it from the wrong perspective, to be frank, and it was a bad place to start.

Another question is with regard to the previous statements whereby work that was done during the pandemic would not count as a reason. Therefore, if a person successfully worked, and I am thinking about someone going to the WRC or Labour Court to argue it, he or she must be able to argue that he or she did so, albeit in trying circumstances, and because he or she had to and not perhaps because his or her employer wanted. Does Mr. Mulligan agree, however, that if a person goes to the WRC or Labour Court, he or she must be able to argue that he or she successfully did it for two years? That must surely count for something in any consideration. It makes a bit of a mockery of two years of successful working from home for workers if they cannot then rely on that in requesting remote work or a hybrid arrangement.