Written answers
Tuesday, 7 October 2025
Department of An Taoiseach
Flexible Work Practices
Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach if public sector employers, colleges and public bodies have moved to 20% home and remote working as per the Making Remote Work strategy. [52681/25]
Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The exact information requested by the Deputy is not available.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the official source of labour market estimates for the State. The most recent LFS figures available are for Q2 2025.
The LFS does not contain a breakdown of public sector vs private sector employment. NACE sections O - Public Administration and Defence, P – Education and Q - Human Health and Social Work Activities include persons employed in the public sector. It should be noted that Sections P and Q also include private sector employment.
The LFS contains a question asking the extent that people work from home. Those who work more than half the time from home are coded ‘Mainly works from home’, those who work more than one hour per week, but less than half the time from home are coded ‘Sometimes works from home’. The aggregate of these two codes is ‘At least some work from home’. The survey does not ask whether working from home is possible based on the nature of their work.
Table 1 contains estimates for the numbers of people in employment by selected NACE economic sector and extent of working from home.
In Q2 2025, 780,100 people were employed in NACE sections O - Public Administration and Defence, P – Education and Q - Human Health and Social Work Activities. Of these, 256,400 undertook at least some of their work from home - 101,100 mainly worked from home and 155,300 sometimes worked from home.
Table 1 Persons in employment (ILO) by economic sector and extent of working from home, 000s
| NACE economic sector | Extent of working from home | Q2 2021 | Q2 2022 | Q2 2023 | Q2 2024 | Q2 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mainly works at home | 67.5 | 50.4 | 38.7 | 43.8 | 37.8 | |
| Sometimes works at home | 10.8 | 19.9 | 35.6 | 37.9 | 39.4 | |
| At least some work from home | 78.3 | 70.3 | 74.3 | 81.7 | 77.2 | |
| Never works at home | 52.6 | 59.6 | 70.0 | 70.1 | 68.6 | |
| Not stated | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Section O Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security | All persons | 131.1 | 130.2 | 144.7 | 152.1 | 146.3 |
| Mainly works at home | 73.3 | 43.6 | 33.3 | 32.1 | 30.8 | |
| Sometimes works at home | 43.2 | 49.0 | 53.9 | 60.7 | 72.7 | |
| At least some work from home | 116.5 | 92.6 | 87.2 | 92.8 | 103.5 | |
| Never works at home | 99.0 | 127.4 | 132.7 | 139.7 | 138.1 | |
| Not stated | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Section P Education | All persons | 216.4 | 220.7 | 221.4 | 233.2 | 242.7 |
| Mainly works at home | 40.9 | 30.7 | 23.9 | 28.1 | 32.5 | |
| Sometimes works at home | 23.7 | 34.1 | 36.8 | 42.9 | 43.3 | |
| At least some work from home | 64.6 | 64.8 | 60.7 | 71.0 | 75.8 | |
| Never works at home | 245.7 | 274.7 | 296.8 | 305.2 | 314.5 | |
| Not stated | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Section Q Human Health and Social Work Activities | All persons | 312.2 | 340.3 | 358.0 | 376.6 | 391.1 |
| Mainly works at home | 181.8 | 124.8 | 95.8 | 104.0 | 101.1 | |
| Sometimes works at home | 77.7 | 103.1 | 126.3 | 141.5 | 155.3 | |
| At least some work from home | 259.5 | 227.9 | 222.1 | 245.5 | 256.4 | |
| Never works at home | 397.3 | 461.7 | 499.5 | 514.9 | 521.2 | |
| Not stated | * | * | * | * | * | |
| Sections O, P and Q | All persons | 659.7 | 691.2 | 724.1 | 761.9 | 780.1 |
| Mainly works at home | 774.3 | 643.0 | 547.6 | 553.6 | 555.5 | |
| Sometimes works at home | 178.4 | 279.4 | 360.5 | 399.3 | 457.6 | |
| At least some work from home | 952.7 | 922.4 | 908.1 | 952.9 | 1013.1 | |
| Never works at home | 1419.0 | 1672.6 | 1767.9 | 1794.1 | 1795.6 | |
| Not stated | [10.5] | [6.3] | [6.8] | [7.2] | 9.3 | |
| All persons | All persons | 2382.2 | 2601.2 | 2682.7 | 2754.2 | 2818.1 |
Data may be subject to sampling or other survey errors, which are greater in respect of smaller values or estimates of change.
Estimates for number of persons, where there are less than 30 persons in a cell, are too small to be considered reliable. These estimates are presented with an asterisk (*) in the relevant tables. Where there are 30-49 persons in a cell, estimates are considered to have a wider margin of error and should be treated with caution. These cells are presented with parentheses []. In the case of rates, these limits apply to the denominator used in generating the rate. In the case of annual changes, both the current year and the preceding year are taken into account when deciding whether the estimate should be suppressed or flagged as having a wider margin of error.
Data may be subject to future revision.
Reference period: q2 Apr-Jun.
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