Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was not going to speak. Having listened to the contributions and all the advertising about Fine Gael's new telecommunications company laying the pipes and fibre broadband across the country, however, I had to say something.

I commend Senator Currie on the motion. Remote working has been the only way my family has been able to operate over the past five or six years, having a business at home and being lucky enough to have broadband. Now more than ever, we are at home constantly. As Senator Lombard said, it is about the blend. My partner has been working from home for the past 12 months. I think he is on the verge of killing us all and maybe the four children as well. It is an incredibly difficult time for many. We are all being pushed into this and I do not think community and business would have been as open to remote working were it not for Covid. That push to get ourselves ready for remote working has been the one silver lining of Covid. We need to be sure that we do it properly. As previous speakers noted, it is about getting a framework and guidelines and legislation put in place to protect workers and ensure that there is better family and community life.

Hubs will start popping up across the country. There is funding for one in Dunleer in Louth. My colleague, Councillor John Sheridan, has been speaking about this for so long. It is the way forward. I look forward to a community hub in north Louth along with the fibre broadband. We are on the verge of something great which will change the way we work. It creates so many opportunities to improve communities. I spoke to someone in my area during the week who became disabled recently and who is unable to go out to work because he is not medically fit to travel. He is starting work from home next Monday. It is a brilliant day when we can say that he will be a full part of our community because of remote working.