Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like Deputy Nash, I represent a constituency where we watch and are among tens of thousands of people who get up in the morning, get onto overcrowded trains or packed buses that go onto overcrowded and packed roads, or get into personal cars to get to work, school or college. Since the lifting of restrictions, workers throughout the country have been told to return to the office in their droves. Many people who had worked from home during the pandemic and had swapped their bus or car commute for a morning walk, some time with the family or indeed an extra, much-needed hour in bed, now find themselves taking to personal and public transport again at ungodly hours.

In practical terms, this means that the start and the end of thousands of peoples' days will be spent stuck in traffic or on overcrowded public transport, which erodes morale and, of course, damages our planet. Commuting was not working for workers before Covid-19. It was absolute chaos. For the thousands of commuters who leave Dublin Fingal everyday, counties Louth, Wexford or Kildare or any area around our major cities, this is a case of back to the future. The promise that everything would change and nothing would be the same has been absolutely obliterated by the past few weeks. One in ten workers spend more than an hour travelling to work daily, with commuters losing on average five hours every week stuck in traffic. Dublin was the third worst city in the world for congestion - the third worst. In my constituency of Fingal, alone, 30,000 workers commute from home to Dublin city.

We know that more investment is needed. However, this alone will not solve the underlying causes of this unsustainable commuter flow. A right to flexible and remote work is key to ending this commuter chaos once and for all. The development over the past two years in both information technology and the increased knowledge of how to use it has been a game changer, enabling many of us to work throughout the pandemic from our homes or local workplace hubs. These gains cannot be lost. They need to be built upon. That is why the Labour Party is demanding the right to flexible, secure and decent work.

Demand for remote and flexible work in Ireland is amongst the strongest in the OECD. Of those in employment who can work remotely, many would like to do so when all pandemic restrictions are removed. However, due to the Government's failure to enact a real right to flexible work, many have been hauled back to the office in recent weeks. These are the facts and the stories I get on the doors, from my office and, indeed, from my colleagues.

If we are serious about lowering our emissions and meeting our climate targets, the Government needs to give more workers the power and choice to work from home or in their local community. Among the key gains from a rights-based approach to flexible work will be the cutting of climate emissions, maintaining a better work-life balance, reducing the cost of living and transport congestion, and rejuvenating local communities.

The local coffee shops and convenience stores in my home town of Swords and constituency of Fingal spoke of how they no longer had to get by on just a couple of hours of peak time in the morning. They had a thriving lunchtime trade as workers who were working from home were able to nip down for their local coffee or sandwich and meet their friends in their own communities, as opposed to in an industrial estate or the city centre.

The Labour Party believes what is needed is a workers-first agenda, underpinned by job security and promoted by Government, because the gains from a right to flexible work can only be measured on a society-wide and global level. Our motion and legislation, which has been published by Senator Sherlock, will embed the right to this flexibility from day one of employment; not as a reward for good behaviour once probation is passed or as a perk. It would provide workers with the certainty of flexibility that is needed in order that we can build a workplace that works for people and reflects the demands of modern living.

The pandemic has shown us that a different work life is possible. Rather than a stressful commute, people can have flexibility to improve their productivity, work-life balance, air quality and everything else on the list of far-reaching benefits such an approach would bring. We have seen 15 years of change pushed into the past two years, but this Government's wrong-headed approach to essentially give employers the right to refuse requests to flexible work will be shown to be on the wrong side of progress. It represents a step back in time and a return and a rigid fixation on the previous status quo. This is after it has been proved over the past two years that there has been no decrease in productivity, that we have not lost tax revenues and have been able to keep the economy going and keep money flowing into the public purse to keep services going, all while remote work was forced upon us by a pandemic. This wrong-headed approach by Government to row this back and go back to the way it was is one of the most regressive moves by a Government in recent times.

That is why the Labour Party wants to create this right to flexible work, which is in the best interest of workers, families, local communities and our environment. The heart of our motion and our Bill is people's physical and mental health, workplace safety and job security. If workers are working from home, the provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 still apply to breaks and rest periods. This cannot change. Remote and flexible working will be a reality for the long term. It is the future. The future is here now. We cannot go back.

We need to look at the options for working within communities, which is a useful option for people who must commute long distances, whether from the suburbs and hinterlands of our major cities or from even further afield. People travel halfway across the country every day to work. This way of life burns people out long before their time. We need to consider how we can provide workspaces in local communities, towns and villages. While I acknowledge some efforts have been made by Government in this regard, it still seems piecemeal and led by the private sector rather than a proper State-led approach.

Such workspaces, work hubs and facilities would enable people to leave the house on foot using active travel measures and engage in their job in the centre of their local towns and villages. This might be done through hot-desking or short-term lets of industrial and retail units in towns.

The repurposing of buildings such as old Garda stations or credit unions are also options because much of the necessary infrastructure for modern work is already in place. This would help to regenerate towns and villages as money would circulate in local economies and continue to be spent on main streets, as has happened over recent years. It would be good for the environment and good for people's mental health because they would not be working from the end of their bed or in otherwise cramped conditions in their homes. Throughout the pandemic we have been raising the fact that working from home in and of itself is not the answer and that proper facilities have to be in place. We cannot have people working in cramped bedrooms. Some people are able to have a home office or to repurpose a shed or outbuilding, but many are unable to do so. People who are in house-sharing situations, for example, or who live with people who do shift work have to keep their voice down when they are on the phone, but such practical difficulties can be resolved if people have the option of community work.

A debate on flexible working arrangements is taking place all around the world and we cannot miss this opportunity to introduce strong flexible work legislation because there are enormous cost-of-living benefits in areas such as transport and climate. People being pushed back onto overcrowded buses and trains, with very expensive fares, or into their cars, with the increased fuel costs we have been discussing in recent weeks in the Dáil, is an example of regression. The Government has an opportunity here to make progress and I urge it to take it.

If flexible work arrangements are to be introduced in any fashion, a flexible work ticket for public transport will be required. I and Deputy Nash have been raising this since long before the pandemic reached its current point. That the Government has not stood up to the mark and produced a flexible taxsaver ticket is yet another example of not putting the worker or the people first. Half-price fares for those under 24 have been promised but have been held up by some nebulous technical difficulties.

Since the 2019 Fingal by-election, the Labour Party has been talking about flexible work and the need to put it on a statutory footing. The Government must develop a proper plan for commuters, workers and those working from home, for regenerating rural towns and villages and enabling people to work there. Flexible and secure work is the lifeblood of any such plan in terms of its success. I ask the Government to acknowledge the Bill produced by Senator Sherlock on this and to support the motion before the House today. I call on the Government to take a real lead in providing a real right to flexible and remote work.

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