We are debating this Bill this morning because the previous Government's so-called Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, which is less than three years old, has abjectly failed working people. Then again, we should not be surprised because it was set up to fail. We said that at the time and the proof is there for all to see in the operation of the terms of the Act in the WRC's annual reports. The debates on that Act were a waste of Dáil time. That legislation was an act of fraud perpetrated against commuters in my county of Louth and elsewhere. It was tokenism of the very worst kind. For a time, as my colleague, Deputy Bacik, said, Fine Gael almost had some people persuaded that it had some kind of Pauline conversion to the cause of improving workers' rights but the reality can be found in the empty formula contained in the 2023 Act, the utterly meaningless right "to request" the opportunity to avail of remote or flexible work. This Bill gives the Government the chance to correct the mistake it made in 2023. The evidence of that mistake is all around us. The Act, as adopted, is simply not working. This is one of the key workers' rights questions of our time. I am dealing all of the time with the fallout of this Government's failure. We have return-to-work mandates being imposed on workers, no questions asked and no quarters given. This is creating childcare chaos and very real financial worries for families. Hours are being spent in traffic and people are dealing with unreliable and stretched bus and train services. We all know the impact but I am not sure this Government necessarily cares or understands it. I will give the House an example of the human impact, if I may. Earlier this week a man in Dundalk was in touch with me. He works in the IFSC as does his partner. He was hired during Covid and he has worked very productively from home. He is now being pulled back into the office for most of the working week, with a full five-day return on the cards. He moved to the Dundalk area for more affordable housing. The understanding was that he could work remotely and that the arrangement would continue. I ask the Minister of State to listen to what he said: Now we find ourselves commuting sometimes a four hour round trip if traffic is bad, increased travel costs, parking, tolls, diesel, car maintenance, additional childcare costs, not to mention quality time lost to the commute. And all for what? To say we clocked in to the office. That is the long and the short of it. The laws we have at the moment let poor managers and bad businesses off the hook. The cohort of people who are angry with this situation need to be listened to. They are the young, ambitious, highly educated professionals who have paid an exacting price for the Government's housing and childcare failures. They are people with a very real stake in society, who need the social contract to work. The ability to work remotely gave them the opportunity to come up for air, a chance to breathe. In so many cases, that opportunity is being taken away unilaterally and without any recourse whatsoever to any legislative protection or remedy to support them and to bring some semblance of balance to the question and to their lives. The legal framework needs to change. I strongly believe there will be a political price paid by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil if this Bill is rejected, and if the changes we want to see are not ultimately introduced. We will continue to campaign on the key question of workers' rights in modern Ireland.

Sentiment score: -0.12

Hear, hear.

Sentiment score: 0.00