Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to see Senator McGreehan in the Chair. I welcome the Minister of State. I thank Senator Currie. This is indeed a fantastic piece of work. To alleviate some of the Senator's concerns, the Government has been working hard on this issue to ensure it is done properly and fairly for workers. As Green Party spokesperson on enterprise, trade and employment, since we have been in government, we have made submissions on many things to which the Senator has referred. To clarify, nobody is saying anything about stopping the right to switch off. I will go through a few things to inform the Senator properly about it. Perhaps she is not fully aware of what has been going on with the work behind the scenes.I have years of experience myself, so I have good experience of the pros and cons and how to do this right, as have many other people in government who have been working hard on this motion. I state that just to alleviate any concerns. This can be done and it can done well, and that is the whole purpose of this motion we are working on. We know first-hand that if workers are not taken care of, they will not be as productive. We can look to the private sector in that regard. I met with representatives from Dropbox, a company which has been doing remote working for years. It was found there that not only was productivity better, but remote working also saved the company money and made its workers happier. That is what happens if workers are taken care of, so that has to be a top priority.

It is also important, because we have committed to 20% remote working in the public sector, that we empower and enable all those public sector workers who can do so to work from home. We should look into the ergonomics involved in doing that, which we are doing as a Government. We must also ensure that remote working does not cause or exacerbate mental health issues and that is why it is great that we are doing so much work on the broadband connection points, BCPs, and the digital hubs. In Clare alone, we have digital hubs in Kilrush, Feakle, Carran, Miltown Malbay, Ennistymon, Kilfenora, Kilkee, Corofin, and those in Ennis, Cross, Einagh and Flagmount are on the way. It is a great development, which means that people like me, who do work from home, are able to take care of our mental health by booking into one of these super and excellently funded by the State social workspaces. Having worked from home, I know it is good to sometimes be able to clock into one of those places to meet other humans.

We are taking care of things, therefore, from the perspective of working from home and from the perspective of the provision of good broadband with the creation of these digital hubs all over the place. I was involved in a pre-budget submission on these Wi-Fi hubs to the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, who has approved €5 million for them. These digital hubs are specifically intended to target smaller rural places where people might be isolated in their homes. They will also be using existing community buildings, which is great because those assets will also be available in the evening.

In my village at home, we hope that once we have the digital work hub, post Covid-19 and because everything is going online, we will be able to engage with older people who find it difficult to do things online so that these hubs will be used by them and we will be able to help those people to do their online business. We might be able to train them up as well, so I feel very positive about this development. It is brilliant to see that people will now be able to work in any part of Ireland. I am a real rural advocate and, knowing how much it costs to live in cities and because our cities have so much traffic and living costs which are so high, it is positive that we are doing this and doing this well because it means people will now have choices to live in rural villages and towns that need life and breath brought back into them.

As Senator Currie mentioned, that is why it is so important that we get the town and village renewal scheme under way and that we do it properly. Remote working will be a major part of that endeavour, as will water infrastructure and being able to do up old buildings to make it possible and simpler for people to live above businesses in our small towns and villages. That is why we need these broadband connection points and these digital hubs, and why we need this initiative done and done well to protect the workers. It will also be great because we will be able to look at job creation as well. I have friends who work for Google and do website design etc. People from all over Ireland and Europe are now living where I do, which was not the case before, and this development has been made possible by digital hubs funded by the State.

We now have a digital hub where the founder of the GAA, Michael Cusack, was born in the most remote cottage I have ever seen, just outside of a village called Carran that is outside of any town. It is a place that already has a remote working hub, and three of the four desks are already booked up. These digital hubs are badly needed places. I thought nobody would use that hub, but all kinds of people live in places throughout the country. I am really excited about this development and the work that is being done on this by the Government. We must take our hats off to Senator Currie for her work on this motion. We are all in this together.

I see no negatives associated with this initiative, because we also understand the need to protect those people who are going to be working from home. Aspects such as the quality of desks and other equipment are also important. If people volunteer to work from home, they must also ensure they can get the space and the time required to do that. As someone who works from home, I recognise that we must also choose the right to switch off ourselves. There is some personal responsibility involved. As Senators, we are online seven days a week anyway, but I know when I was working with an NGO, notionally from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., I was often working sometimes on a Saturday and a Sunday. That is something we will all have to watch out for more, even if our bosses are not making us, which they will not be now, because it will be done properly now and there will be legislation in place. We will have to watch our own work-life balance, however, and keep an eye on what we are doing.We will all have to watch out for that, even if our bosses are not making us switch off, which they will not be in future because it will be done properly and there will be legislation for it. We will have to watch our work-life balance ourselves and keep any eye on it.

The last point I will make is that we have been talking about well-being metrics. There will be an analysis done on the economic metrics in regard to remote working, but we must have well-being metrics as well. I would look to the private sector in this regard. Having met many people in the sector who have been doing this for many years, they have it nailed down to a fine art and they know how to take care of their employees. We want to make sure that applies to both the public and private sectors across Ireland.