Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Covid crisis has opened up a debate about remote working. When workers won the right to join a union, they did not win the right to request their employer to consider allowing a union. When women won the right to vote, they did not win the right to request the Government of the day to consider allowing them a vote. The Government seems to have a problem with understanding the concept of workers' rights. Coming from the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Varadkar, that does not surprise me - the man is a down-the-line Tory. However, the Taoiseach proclaims his working-class roots. He was at it here in the Dáil last week. He projects himself as a believer in workers' rights but when it comes to remote working, a key issue for workers concerned with work-life balance, long commutes, pricey petrol and so on, there is not a scintilla of difference between him and the Tánaiste. The Taoiseach is not supporting workers' rights here. He is supporting a miserable right to request. Why is that?

See this speech in context