Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the son of a trade union official, I begin by joining Deputy Duncan Smith in encouraging people to join, and be involved in, a trade union and to work towards the universal right to collective bargaining as a fundamental underpinning of workers' rights. I thank all Deputies who contributed to the debate. It is heartening that there was no voice against our legislative proposals. All the various perspectives and opinions within the House support the Bill.

I heard the contributions of the Tánaiste and the two Ministers of State, all of whom said they would not oppose the Bill on Second Stage. One of the Ministers of State talked about farming out aspects of the Bill to be considered by various institutions or organisations and thanked the Labour Party for contributing to the debate. I want to make the point that the Dáil is not a debating chamber outside the legislative process. This is the legislative process. The Bill we have brought before the House is specifically designed to address issues that are real for many hundreds of thousands of workers at this time. They need the measures we have outlined. I hope we will have goodwill from the Government to ensure our proposals are not just part of a debate but a means of moving towards legislative change.

"Working from home" was for many a phrase that was heard or something that was talked about rather than something they considered doing themselves. Covid-19 changed all of that in an instant. The nature of work post 2020 has changed permanently. Businesses and employees alike have discovered that, for many, it is possible to be productive, to achieve targets and not to have to face the daily commute to work. Employers, many of which had been sceptical, found that this was possible.

It is a point worth underscoring that what we have in mind is not a prescription for everybody. It must involve choice. Many contributors have said that this will not be possible for many people because of their living circumstances or their family or home situations. Nobody should be forced into a particular form of work. That is why collective agreement through a trade union is the ultimate way in which this should be handled. That does not mean, however, that we can abandon our fundamental duty to underpin in legislation the rights of workers not to be exploited in any way.

We always believed technology would come to liberate workers. I remember that, many years ago, the notion was that technology would get to a point at which we could all have endless leisure. The reverse is true. A new tyranny is often imposed by the ability to contact employees constantly and the expectation of bosses that one will respond at any time. That cannot be allowed to continue. I visited a very large technology company in this State in recent times. Allegedly, no one had fixed working hours but, in truth, they were constant slaves because they were all permanently logged in and online. Not only was their work being monitored at all times, but it was being benchmarked against all that company's workers across the globe. They did not even know whether they were doing well or not. We have to come to grips with that sort of tyranny now. The legislation before us is a small but really important step in that direction.

As has been said, other countries are ahead of us in understanding this issue and in enacting legal frameworks to begin to monitor and regulate the new work environment effectively. The Minister of State has said that only four countries have legislated in this way. Why can we not be in the vanguard? If four countries can do it, why not all countries? Why can Ireland not set the pace for the ideal working conditions for workers?

As I have said, a lot will have changed after the unprecedented year of 2020, much of it for the worse. Let us learn the best lessons. Let us provide a new work framework for those who want to work from home and who can do so. Let us deal with all the issues the many contributors have outlined which need to be dealt with. Let us start by enacting the measures we have set out to protect workers at home, to ensure that they are not out of pocket or under tyranny and to allow a different work pattern to prevail into the future.

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