Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the witnesses for coming in. I want to turn to the Department's role in establishing remote policy across the Civil Service. Remarkable things were done during the Covid pandemic with regard to seeing what was possible to do through remote working. Thousands of social welfare payments were processed in a manner and from places which we would probably never have sanctioned or predicted. I think the same work was carried out in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. How has the Department taken that learning and applied it to a new policy? Will Mr. Moloney talk to us about the Department's policy on remote working and how it applies to the broader Civil Service? How does the Department take account of our climate action targets in that same policy by reducing commuting times and so on? How do the new provisions for flexible working fit with the Government's policy on work-life balance?