Dr. Laura Bambrick:

On how we can make a statutory right for flexible work, Ireland will be very unusual, when we get the Tánaiste's Bill on the right to request remote working, to have legislation that just looks at remote working as a stand-alone right. In the case of other countries throughout Europe, including Britain and Northern Ireland, that have rights to request flexible working, they are built in as part of a flexible working Bill. When we met and gave our evidence to the citizens' assembly, it was before the Tánaiste's commitment to legislating. We had assumed that the vehicle for giving a right to request remote working would be about extending the EU directive that gives the parents of children up to the age of eight - the Minister is going to extend that to parents of children up to the age of 12 - and people with a caring responsibility this right for flexible working.

ICTU argued it should be given to all workers, who would then have the right to work remotely but it would also mean workers in jobs where remote working is not practical or cannot be facilitated would be able to have the work-life balance premium that those of us who are lucky enough to be able to work remotely can have, whether that is about working term-time hours when children are in school or taking off time when the worker does not work part time. Of course, this has to be done hand in glove with the employer making sure that can be facilitated. We are going to have legislation on a statutory right to flexible working. Our only difficulty with that is that it will apply to a narrow group of workers.

On the issue of earnings-related parental and paternity leave, the take-up of these new leave options, important as they have been, has been disappointingly low among new fathers. Where we see better take-up is where the employer tops up the €250 allowance. Having a new baby is one of the most expensive times in a family's lifetime, and having two parents out of work on a flat €250 is just not practical. If the mother is in a job that does not provide a top-up, the father will not be able to take leave. We believe that both maternity and paternity leave should be income paid as a percentage of the parent's wage, exactly as it done throughout Europe. We spent a lot of time talking about the tax recommendations of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare, but it has made some really good welfare recommendations, one of which related to the fact that if we are to introduce pay-related jobseeker's benefit, that should extended to family leave, which we very much welcome.