Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On a point of information, there is a separate EU directive on the right to flexible working and that pertains to carers and parents. That has to be transposed into Irish law in August and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is bringing forward that legislation. I read some of the articles by Senator Sherlock and Deputy Bacik and there did not seem to be an awareness on their part that there are two separate Bills here - one that derives from and EU directive and the other that derives from proposals coming from the Government.

We are happy to look at the timelines; maybe they are too long. We are happy to look at the reasons; maybe there are too many. The basic principle has to be that remote working should be facilitated as long as services provided to the public are not diminished and it does not injure the business performance of the organisation. We are happy to look at amendments in that regard.

For Deputy's information, at a LEEF meeting last night, IBEC did not like this one bit either. While the unions may have been louder on the airwaves in criticising the proposals, the employer's side has been equally critical.

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