Flexible Work and Commuter Delays: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Roderic O'Gorman (GP), Dublin West

I thank Deputy Wall for bringing forward this motion which we in the Green Party are very happy to support. Fundamentally, the motion recognises that our economic health as a country is intrinsically linked to the well-being of workers, students and carers. Our economic health is linked to their ability to live, travel and pursue their lives in a way that is facilitated and supported by the choices that the State makes.
Too often, people feel they face a battle just to get to and from work. They have longer and longer commutes and spend more time away from their kids and families. When this happens every day over many years, it leaves people feeling failed and frustrated that things never seem to change. We know that progress can be made, and we have seen how effective remote and flexible working can be in some areas. Evidence shows it can boost long-term productivity and reduce attrition and turnover. It can allow for people in a caring role to continue as full members of the workforce. Most relevant to this motion, it can tackle issues around congestion, peak commuting capacity failures and associated air quality and emissions issues.
There are many wins in embracing flexibility and remote working in a co-ordinated way. This was at the heart of many of the initiatives my party took in government. Our investment in the prioritisation of public transport has led to record journey numbers being undertaken in urban and rural areas. We pulled some large public transport projects off the mothball shelf, including metro, Luas and DART electrification. We introduced into Irish labour law for the first time the recognition of flexible and remote working, along with greatly expanding parents' leave and introducing domestic violence leave.
It is important that the Government continues to build on these successes. In the Chamber I have raised a number of times my concerns about where the Government is going on investment in public transport, and we can come back to that on another day. Specifically regarding remote working, I was the Minister to introduce that. I built in a review of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act. That review took place at the end of last year. It will be interesting and valuable for us to know when the review of the Act will be published and whether the Minister of State or the senior Minister in the Department will bring forward changes and improvements to the Act on foot of that review.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21