Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Could we not push it to 7 p.m.? No, there is no problem with that. I am conscious of the rules in having to finish by 6.30 p.m.

I compliment Senator Currie on bringing forward the motion. This is a conversation that we need to have as a country. It is one we have been having over the past 12 months, but it had started before that. We need to build on what has gone before.

Senators raised various issues which need to be addressed. The Tánaiste launched the strategy a few weeks ago. It is an action plan but it also gives us time to have conversations of this nature in the coming months as we bring forward legislation. It is important that we tease through the various aspects of what is involved, which this motion gives us an opportunity to do. People have said that they have been talking about this a great deal. I have been listening to them, which is important.

Senator Currie has been driving this issue in this House and elsewhere for some time. She put forward the many reasons - I will not repeat them - as to why it is so important that a proper strategy is in place and why we should facilitate remote working and recognise it as equal to working in the office or elsewhere. It is the future. It has been building in recent years but the concept has been proven over the past 12 months for many people that it really is an option. The strategy is about making it an option and giving people the choice, as many Senators have noted. It is not about forcing remote work on anybody but about giving them the option that if they would like it, they can request it and that we can make it happen. The job of the Government and other parties is to make it happen and ensure that the choice is a real choice.It is also necessary to work with employers and employees to facilitate that, as well as recognising that many jobs never had to done be in an office in the first place. Locationless jobs have become the norm in many countries. It is important that we build on this and make it happen. We want to work on that. I thank everyone for their work and comments today. I have taken a note of most of them and we will feed back through them.

Senator Currie said that for 100 years we have had the same logical approach to work. Thanks to our involvement with the EU, things have changed over the years, particularly in terms of the working time directive and various other initiatives. From an employment point of view, matters have changed dramatically over the past 30 or 40 years in terms of employment rights. I want to be very clear on this. It is something the Tánaiste are very much committed to.

Senator Gavan should check his records. We did not impose any directive last week. I attended two of the meetings at which we discussed the issue he raised. He forgot to mention that countries like Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark were part of the same letter and conversation. We correctly raised some issues regarding the approach with the Commission through a directive, something we, as a country, are well ahead of in terms of what is being sought by means of the directive. We had concerns around-----