Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are many ways in which the pandemic will change our world. One of these is how it has turned the world on its head when it comes to remote working and home working. What has happened over recent months as a consequence of the pandemic probably would have taken us ten years as a planned strategy. When we were writing the programme for government we were thinking about how we would retain what we have gained in terms of home working and remote working. Within a few months, we were wondering whether we would ever get people back to the offices because our city centres are in real trouble because of the lack of footfall.

What we are getting back from staff surveys is that approximately 10% or 15% are dying to get back to the office. These are often younger people, people working out of a bedroom while somebody else works out of the sitting room and people in apartments. Another 10% or 15% want to work from home forever and approximately 70% are in between and want blended working. This is the way to go and what our policy should try to facilitate, whereby people might spend a few days in HQ, a day or two at home and one day perhaps in a remote hub near where they live.

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