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

To go back to the issue the Deputies' touched on a moment ago, Deputy Carroll MacNeill made the point about the financial services sector. It is the case that many companies in the services sector have become more profitable and more successful during this period. In the context then of working from home and the additional costs of that, this is an issue employers and employees need to work together on. It is not always the Government which can step in and provide additional money because the additional money we are referring to is the people's money, which is fixed and finite. In many cases, some employers have become considerably more profitable. The issue of the contribution they can make to home working arrangements is a legitimate point, as the Deputy acknowledged.

On the point made by Deputy Richmond in his concluding remarks, which was touched on by Deputy Moynihan as well, in regard to remote working and all of the opportunity that offers for our country, I can remember when I made the decision to go ahead with the national broadband plan. I can remember the decision and the debate in the House when the then Minister, Deputy Bruton, and I made that decision. I dread to think what the debate on broadband would be like now if we were not in the process of rolling it out.

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