Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The point I am making relates to remote working and the fact that there is an assumption that it is in all circumstances a positive. If, however, a company decides that a worker can in all circumstances work remotely and connect remotely to the workplace, that is something which will need to be regulated heavily by the Government and via legislation. If there is overcrowded housing, the workers are young or people do not necessarily have access to the appropriate materials or IT equipment. In addition, workers may not be able to connect remotely or may be uncomfortable doing so. We need strong regulation and oversight of this issue because, as the Minister of State knows, the market has no conscience. Therefore, how companies operate their interactions will need to be heavily regulated if the workplace is to be radically different in future.

We appreciate the motivation behind the Bill, but, like Deputy O'Reilly, we hope that other areas of company law, oversight and employment legislation will be dealt with as speedily. We are still awaiting a Government response to the Duffy Cahill report on issues surrounding Clerys, Debenhams and HMV, matters that were referenced recently during Private Member's business. It is this sort of speed that makes the public realise what the Government's priority is. While we have no issue with the speed with which this Bill is being dealt, if every legislative measure governing employment law and workers' rights was dealt with as speedily, there would be a sense across all sectors of society that the Government was even-handed and would respond to the needs of employers and employees equally. Some of us would rather it if the Government spent more time listening to the concerns of employees than employers, but if the speed was seen to be even-handed across the spectrum, there would not be the sense of alienation from the political system and legislation that governs the way people work. There is a sense that if one is a captain of industry or a company director, one's access to the Cabinet, the decision makers and those who prioritise legislation is swifter, whereas if one is a shop steward or trade union representative, one's access is not as swift and one cannot get what is necessary done. The Duffy Cahill report was published in 2017, but here we are in 2020 and the issues it covered are still surfacing.

To summarise, it is important that the Minister of State convey to the Tánaiste our disappointment regarding his failure to attend. A number of issues have arisen in recent weeks but the latter has not been present. If he does not hear the messages from this Chamber, he will not react positively to them. We welcome the Bill and have not tabled amendments to it, but we must be careful about how the sector is regulated in future so that we do not fall into an assumption that all elements of remote working are positive. We must be mindful of unreasonable burdens being placed on workers, in particular young ones, in terms of how they interact with the labour force. My third point relate to the swift way in which this legislation is being dealt with versus long delays in addressing issues concerning amoral actions of businesses in overriding workers' rights.

We will not be tabling any amendments and will be supporting the Bill but I hope the Minister of State will take the comments of the Labour Party on board and relay them to the senior Minister.

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