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

The legislation is just in draft form, as the Deputy knows. There are heads of Bill. The general scheme is currently with the committee. It is carried out hearings involving the relevant stakeholders and its members will meet my officials again on 4 May. I will make a decision once I get the report back from the committee on what it recommends by way of improvements or changes.

I am a big supporter of remote working; I am an advocate for it. It should be encouraged so long as the services provided to the public are not diminished and business performance is not adversely affected. We need to be practical also, however. Working from home cannot be an absolute right and some work cannot be done remotely. While other work can be done remotely, it cannot be done as well remotely. We need to bear in mind that the public is entitled to high-quality services. If you run a business, it is reasonable to say you want an employee to come into the office for one or two days per week. We have to get the balance right between promoting remote working and not going so far as to diminish the quality of services provided to the public or undermine business performance. That is what we are trying to balance at the moment.

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