Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I concur with the points made by my colleagues in response to the Minister's reply, for which I thank him. I emphasise how important it is that, as we conclude the budgetary process over the coming weeks, the Minister and his Government colleagues be truly ambitious in this sphere. The measures that he announced and that are in place are a good start and stand up favourably internationally, but if we are to utilise the opportunities that the pandemic has presented us in many areas, the best opportunity is to ensure that remote working and working from home continue in the positive way that we have seen. The Government's ambition is for 20% of public sector workers to work remotely or from home within a couple of years, but we have to ensure that that is the ambition in every sector. It is vital that we look beyond the status quo. The Minister mentioned a report that had been presented to him this week. It contains a great deal. I ask that he be ambitious and inventive.

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