Many people, especially those in rural Ireland, stand to benefit greatly from fair, balanced and practical remote working arrangements. Reduced commuting, more time with family, lower carbon emissions and the ability to work closer to home are meaningful gains that improve quality of life and support regional development. However, we must also ensure balance. Employers need clarity, practicality and safeguards and workers need a system that is genuinely accessible, not one that is bogged down in bureaucracy or easily refused. A right in legislation must be a right in practice. On a personal note, I do not know much about work-life balance. I spend most of my weekends working 17 or 18 hours every day, so I am not any example. My staff, who are mostly female apart from one, Ellen, Margaret, Valerie and Paddy, all work around the clock, not because I ask them, but because they are inundated with work. I will take this opportunity to thank them. I also have a chance now when I have not had a chance previously to talk about home working and the short-term letting Bill that the Minister is very much involved in. This is an opportunity where people have been working at home and have been able to carry it out. It is mainly females. I have to give them the respect that it is them who have been delivering the short-term letting through Airbnb in rural locations. I attended a meeting last week in a committee, which is not my committee. We spent three hours there fighting for these people who work at home and want to continue their work at home. It now looks like it is going to be taken from them. If the Minister does not drop the planning requirement prior to the new regulations being brought in for people who are in the business for many years, he is going to ruin many of these great people who work at home. Remote working is great but again in rural Ireland we need better infrastructure, better Wi-Fi, and better mobile phone services. From driving all over west Cork I know there are so many places with no service and other places where in the middle of a call it drops. It is a great idea but in rural Ireland we need much better infrastructure to be put in place first.

Sentiment score: 0.32