Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State has confirmed what I had set out, that Ireland is a leader in remote work.

We cannot take that for granted, however, particularly when we see announcements about companies rowing back on hybrid arrangements. There are great benefits to diversifying the tax base while revitalising local economies and communities. There are 100,000 remote jobs advertised on job sites across Europe monthly. We can continue to position Ireland as a leader in remote work, but we have to actively target the jobs. We can do that by creating this pillar as part of our job creation strategy. We have FDI, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland but we can focus on landing more remote-work jobs in Ireland because of all the benefits that brings to local economies and communities.

Grow Remote has published its pre-budget submission for 2026. It is actually more of a policy document. It goes into the detail required to bring our remote-working policy to the next level, and it does include enhancing skills. It covers continued investment in digital infrastructure and community hubs. London School of Economics recently said that to make remote work more inclusive, governments and employers should focus on reskilling, promoting remote-capable sectors outside cities and improving digital infrastructure. Ireland is already leading the way. Let us keep going and capture the opportunities others are leaving behind.

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