Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is a leader in remote working, and that is not by accident. Approximately 15% of people in Ireland work remotely on a full-time basis. That compares with an average of just 10% across Europe. Access to any form of hybrid or remote work stands at 37%, which is also higher than the European average. I want to speak specifically about the benefits of fully remote and locationless work, distinct from hybrid models. Hybrid arrangements, while highly valuable, still require proximity to the office and, therefore, have limitations on where employees can live. Fully remote work, however, opens up opportunities to every corner of the country, bringing the same high-quality job to Boyle in Roscommon as it does to Blanchardstown in Dublin West. It means that where you live no longer limits the work you do.

According to Grow Remote, the average salary of remote workers in Ireland is €63,000, which is significantly higher than the €43,000 average in the five lowest income counties. For every remote job, there is an additional 0.7 jobs created indirectly in the local economy. Securing more of these remote roles locally not only strengthens the local economy of towns and villages but also plays a vital role in driving balanced regional development across the country.

Of course, it is not just about regional balance and renewal. On a personal note, as a mum of two children who lives in Dublin, I do not know how I would have managed to get elected or to keep up with the always-on nature of political life if my husband did not work remotely. Remote work has given us the flexibility to juggle school drop-offs and pick-ups and still be present when it matters. It has allowed us to be the parents and professionals we want to be. Flexible and remote work arrangements have contributed to record levels of labour force participation. A recent Department of Finance report credited these arrangements with increasing the number of women in the workforce despite the ongoing challenges in childcare provision.

Our success has not happened by chance. It has been driven by targeted policy. Our Rural Future rolled out nearly 400 connected hubs across the country. We had the making remote work strategy, which included Europe's largest State-funded remote work training scheme through Grow Remote, equipping workers and SMEs with the skills they need. Of course, Ireland's digital connectivity strategy will deliver high-speed fibre broadband to over 1 million homes, farms and businesses by 2026, which is ahead of schedule. We need to protect and grow that success. Remote work needs to continue to be supported by targeted policy.

There seems to be a global rowing back on remote work, often driven by hunches rather than evidence. Some argue that remote workers are less productive but studies, both at home and abroad, simply do not support that claim. For every remote job posting, there are more than twice as many applications compared with office-based roles. Workers want it and employers who want to attract top talent will continue to offer remote options. What comes next?

The four-year-old making remote work framework has been successful but we now need a new national strategy that treats remote work as a pillar of job creation alongside FDI and indigenous enterprise. That strategy should embed remote work into national job targets. We should create a unit within our enterprise ecosystem to attract international locationless jobs to Ireland. We must improve data collection so we know which jobs are truly remote, who is benefiting and how we can spread that. We should deliver a national remote work skills training plan for workers and SMEs to ensure that remote work is as accessible as possible. We need to continue investment in digital infrastructure and community hubs. If we secured just 10% of the 100,000 fully remote jobs currently advertised across Europe on a monthly basis, it would generate an additional €100 million annually to the Exchequer.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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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.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has mentioned the upcoming Working in Ireland survey, which the Department has funded. About 5,000 people, north and south of the Border, have been surveyed. The Minister understands the survey has been completed and we can expect the research output in the coming months. We anticipate that there will be a lot of information on a range of labour market issues in this area, and this will be a useful input into the debate on where policy needs to focus. Certainly, the Minister will come back to the Deputy on that, taking into account the matters she has raised in the context of the forthcoming budget.