Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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21. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 235 of 9 July 2024, if his attention has been drawn to a recent media report (details supplied) that the Revenue Commissioners are removing laptops from civil service staff employed there; whether he was consulted in advance of this development and approved this change; whether the national blended working policy needs to be amended to take account of this development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37966/24]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am informed that there has been no change to the Office of the Revenue Commissioner's policy in relation to the preferred equipment to be used when working from home.

The Office of the Revenue Commissioner's Blended Working Policy, published in September 2022, states that ‘For security and support reasons, ICT equipment consisting of Thin Client/Monitor/Keyboard/Camera/Headset is the preferred equipment to support remote working. Where necessary for business reasons the Office of the Revenue Commissioners continues to provide laptops to staff.

My Department published the Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service Organisations in March, 2022. The Framework provides broad strategic direction to individual Civil Service organisations to develop tailored policies on blended working that are appropriate to their business needs, having regard to the service delivery context in which they operate.

The provision of equipment to remote workers, including IT equipment, is an operational matter for each Department and Office, and, therefore the Blended Working Policy Framework for Civil Service Organisations is not prescriptive in this regard.