Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Currie for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Burke. As the Deputy is aware, there has been a significant long-term shift in attitudes to remote and flexible working among both employers and workers throughout the country since the pandemic in particular. Acceptance of remote and flexible working is high and the evidence suggests that they are here to stay. The most recent data from the Central Statistics Office shows that in the second quarter of this year, over 1 million people were reported to be working from home at least some of the time. Within this, over 500,000 people were usually working from home, down from peak levels of close to 775,000 in 2021. These are extraordinary numbers.

The Government is committed to facilitating remote and flexible working in a way that maximises their economic, social and environmental benefits, and the Department has worked with colleagues across government to develop and deliver all 15 actions outlined in the strategy to which the Deputy referred. Actions delivered under the strategy include legislating for the right of all workers to request a remote working arrangement through the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, publication of the code of practice on the right to disconnect, and significant investment in Ireland’s national hub network and broadband infrastructure.

In 2022, research undertaken by the Department found that remote working was likely to have a positive impact on the Irish economy and society. The research examined the impact of remote working on several key policy areas, finding positive effects on the economy and society, including enhanced labour and employment opportunities for cohorts traditionally more distant from the labour market. The Minister, Deputy Burke, would highlight, for example, the contribution of flexible and remote working arrangements to achieving Ireland's record levels of female labour force participation, as the Deputy mentioned, and, in turn, record employment rates overall. For context and to emphasise this point, the most recent labour force survey data confirms that our policies are working with record numbers of people in employment. There were 2.8 million people at work in the second quarter of the year, an annual gain of 63,900 jobs. Since 2020, we have added approximately 660,000 extra jobs. These are exceptional numbers and remote and hybrid working has helped.

The programme for Government recognises the contribution of remote and flexible working to achieving our strong and inclusive labour market and reaffirms our commitment to promoting flexible working arrangements that benefit both workers and employers.

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