Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Covid, probably more than anything else, has shown us how people, particularly workers, are our best resource. Workers, not only those on the front line but also others of all hues, beaver away doing essential tasks and allowing society to tick over. While we sit here debating the greater things in life, we rarely think of the centrality of workers in our society. We rarely think of them as a resource that could make our society much more efficient. In this regard, what does the Taoiseach think of the Fórsa campaign for a four-day week, Fórsa being the trade union leading the campaign? How might Ireland use a four-day week, as Spain is doing, to become one of the first countries in the world to lead a trial that would show how the associated work practice changes could have a double-whammy impact in that they would improve both the environment and levels of equality? The four-day week would improve the environment because, as studies have shown, changing to a four-day week can help to reduce emissions. It would improve our equality agenda because studies have shown that where a four-day week is implemented, fathers and partners, particularly men in relationships, can play a more caring role, a role that women are normally forced to play. There is a double benefit. Could the Taoiseach consider and comment on the dividends in terms of the green agenda and the equality agenda, in addition to the human improvement that a four-day week would afford?

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