Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is great that we are in the Chamber and are able to have such very different conversations and consider such very different points. One of the announcements that I really welcome is the one on the right to request remote working that was made by the Tánaiste and more details were provided on that today. I have heard various debates and interviews over the course of the day on the issue and am aware of the concerns of both employees and employers. Issues like health and safety, access to broadband and related matters that are a concern for both employers and employees can be addressed by the Connected Hubs initiative launched by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys. I took the opportunity today to explore that initiative further through the website connectedhubs.ieand found, to my surprise, that there are two hubs in Dublin 8. Even in my home constituency of Dublin South-Central there already are desk space and meeting room options available. There are 177 hubs up and running already and by the end of this year, there will be 400. As we move on and go back to being an open society, we can live our lives in a newly envisioned way and have many opportunities to do so. I really welcome the hubs and draw Members' attention to connectedhubs.ie, which is a fantastic resource. The hubs are all over the country and they enable people to consider different spaces in the context of working from home.If there are worries about not having a suitable, safe space within a house, it is important that we start looking creatively at how to address employers' concerns. It is a good resource to go onto for employees wanting to do that.