We are here today to debate a Bill with the right to remote work in its Title but a title alone does not make it a right. It is being sold as a right to flexible and remote work and I do not believe it is. In all other countries I am aware of, remote work arrangements depend on employer-employee agreements or specific conditions in law or regulation. Employers must consider the request, though they can still refuse for legitimate business reasons. I said this during the previous Labour Private Members' time on the same topic. What varies across countries is that there is a spectrum of how strong the reasons have to be for a business to refuse a request to work remotely. It is still, however, based on a right to request. The current legislation in place since 2024 could be strengthened but the entire premise of this Bill is that with the right legislation, we can force employers into it and I fear that is counterproductive. It risks entrenching them in pro-office views and never get to the economic, social and environmental impacts that remote work can deliver. I am sorry that I believe this Bill lacks innovation and misses the opportunity that remote work offers our workforce and our economy and that is to make Ireland a world leading centre for the rapidly growing remote-first sector, to get remote-first companies set up in Ireland, for remote companies to recruit here in Ireland and the halo effect that would have on our workplace culture. For a country that excels in jobs strategies through IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and our local enterprise offices, this is the next big channel for us to leverage. I am talking about full PAYE employment, bound to Irish taxes and pensionable, with career progression, but not bound to a physical location. Grow Remote reports there are over 100,000 remote jobs advertised in Europe every month with salaries averaging nearly €20,000 higher than in Ireland's five lowest-income counties. We should be talking about national targets to win those jobs for Ireland and to benefit communities all over the country; building the infrastructure to support and sustain those targets; using the National Training Fund to build a pipeline of talent through programmes that develop remote work skills for workers, managers and leaders; expanding supports for existing companies that make remote and hybrid stick; and scaling community programmes to continue to connect remote workers on a local level. It is time for the next step. We need a much bigger step than we had before; a new national strategy at scale that will have the halo-effect that we need.

Sentiment score: 0.09