Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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244. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of persons employed in his Department who have a formal agreement to work from home one day per week, two days per week and five days per week; his Department’s policy in respect of facilitating requests by persons to work from home; and the number of persons that have made requests to work from home in 2021 and to date in 2022, that have been declined. [44580/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Department’s formal blended working policy came into effect on 5 September 2022 and aligns with the Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service organisations.

Those members of staff whose roles are deemed suitable for blended working arrangements are permitted to work up to a maximum of 50% of their regular attendance pattern remotely over a 4-week period, subject to operational requirements.

No member of staff is permitted to work remotely on a full time basis.

As the application process for blended working entered into force recently, only limited data is available yet to confirm the numbers of people formally availing of remote working.

Prior to the implementation of the policy and with the exception of the Passport Service, the majority of staff worked remotely during the period of 2021 and into 2022 in line with Government guidance. No formal requests for remote working were accepted or declined during that time.