John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right in his assessment that remote working and working from home are very much here to stay. One of the key proposals by the outgoing Government in that regard was the national broadband plan. In the current crisis, we have seen bottlenecks in people's connectivity in many rural areas in particular, but also in some urban areas.

The importance of the delivery of that plan has never been more apparent than it has in recent weeks when so many people have been either in a position to work from home or needing a connection to be able to work from home. As part of the existing poor connection system that is available in many parts of the country, some private operators are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure people get a connection. Others with more fixed lines are actually proving very unhelpful in many cases in terms of delivering connections particularly to rural and smaller urban locations.

The points the Deputy made about meeting our emissions targets are absolutely valid. They are nearly more obvious than his second point about work-life balance. Before this crisis hit, people did not have enough time to have that proper work-life balance. Yesterday - perhaps it was this morning - the Taoiseach indicated in answer to questions that he believes incentives may be needed to ensure that people will be able to work more from home in the future.

Regarding local government, we need to look at streams of funding other than the traditional commercial rates that have existed heretofore.

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