Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said in my earlier contribution on the amendment, we need a balance. It is the case that we will have far more people working from home than we had before the pandemic. We can develop a balance that is good for them and that is, in turn, good for their employers and the Irish economy. I am in favour of finding that balance.

I was in favour of finding the balance before Covid-19 arrived in our country. That is why is I supported the roll-out of the national broadband plan, which is the critical enabler in how we ensure the right kind of connectivity is in place to support more employers being located outside of busy centres and in supporting more work being done at home. Many who were critical of the decision of the last Government to go ahead with the national broadband plan at that point are now calling for an accelerated roll-out of the national broadband plan. That is why it was the right decision.

A process is under way within Government to look at all these matters. This can inform the Oireachtas debate. In conclusion, we already have significant supports in place for employees in respect of the cost of working from home. There are also provisions within the tax code to allow employers to deal with business costs as well. Those supports are in place. They are already of significant help to those incurring more cost in working from home.

As we look at the drawdown of various reliefs in 2020 I imagine we will see more and more expenses being registered against the cost of working from home. The core reason I do not believe this amendment is justified is because this work is already under way within Government. I imagine the report will either be publicly available or a version of it will be publicly available to facilitate the debate that the Deputies are looking for.

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