I commend Deputy Lawlor and my other Labour Party colleagues, in particular Deputies Sherlock and Wall, on bringing forward this important Bill, which I am glad to second. At its core, this Bill is about something very simple. It is about supporting people to work - to work to live not just to live to work. It is about quality of life. Despite what Government spokespersons might imply, workers in Ireland currently have no right to flexible or remote work. They have only a right to ask and a right to be refused. Many employers are very generous. Many workplaces have very sustainable accommodations made with hybrid and remote working but some have been unreasonable. We in the Labour movement are proud to stand for workers' rights; not workers' incentives, not employers' philanthropy or leniency but rights for workers. We are proud to be the party of the trade union movement that has delivered on workers' rights. We have delivered on rights for workers on low pay through mechanisms like the Low Pay Commission and on rights for freelancers through our successful legislation on collective bargaining for freelancers. However, at its core, this Bill is not just about workers' rights. It is also about tackling climate emissions. As Deputy Lawlor said, all of those currently sitting in cars in gridlock trying to get into offices where they do not need to be to be productive are contributing to increased carbon emissions. They are contributing to our failure to reach our climate targets. The Government has been shameful on delivering on public transport and on cycling and active travel infrastructure. One way the Government could help to deliver on reaching climate targets is through enabling workers to work from home where it is reasonably practical to do so. That is another core part of this Bill. This Bill is also about accessible workplaces. It is about ensuring greater access to work and to working life for those who, in many cases, are locked out of workplaces. I am thinking in particular of people with disabilities. In Ireland, we know disabled people are very poorly represented in our workplaces and we should be doing a great deal more to facilitate working careers for people with disabilities and disabled persons. One key way to do that is to facilitate flexible and remote working. I also reference others such as women who are locked out of many workplaces due to lack of access to affordable childcare and early years education, women who disproportionately bear the burden of care at home and who are, therefore, in particular difficulty when it comes to being forced back into workplaces where they do not have to be physically present in order to be productive. If people are spending two, three or four hours a day in a car, which many people who contacted me and my colleagues are doing currently, commuting to their workplace when they know they do not have to be present in the office to be productive, they are not only contributing to climate emissions and having a very poor work-life balance, they are also not delivering for a Government that is talking about productivity and enterprise. As a party of job creation and of jobs, we want to ensure sustainable workplaces and to enable employers to retain skilled and high-value staff - women, men, disabled persons and people from all walks of life who should be facilitated. Finally, with the Government's approach to this Bill, with the sort of obstructionism we have seen on this Bill, it appears Fine Gael in particular, but the Government all together, has abandoned any pretence at a workers' rights agenda. The former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, engaged in rhetoric about workers' rights but we have seen from this Government the stalling of the Labour Party's pregnancy loss leave Bill, a U-turn on sick pay and a VAT cut that took money from the pockets of taxpayers and put it in the coffers of big builders and burger barons. This Government is not taking workers' rights seriously. What we in the Labour Party are trying to do is to redress the balance, to ensure workers have a reasonable right to work from home and to work flexibly and to ensure we build sustainable and accessible workplaces for all.

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