Flexible Work and Commuter Delays: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
============================================================

Duncan Smith (LAB), Dublin Fingal East

Unfortunately, the Government does not have high ambitions. There has been an attempt by the rest of the Opposition and the Government to misrepresent or misunderstand our Bill, our motion and our campaign. We carried out a survey in which 850 workers took part. They were not from Dublin, and it was not a Dublin-based survey. In fact, 840 of those who took part in the survey were from outside Dublin. It was a nationwide campaign. Deputy Dolan made a salient point on how remote working disproportionately and positively impacted rural workers. That is why Members should be supporting our motion and our Bill. The Minister of State herself said that she wanted to maximise the environmental and economic benefits of the right to remote work. She could do that by supporting our Bill. Government policy remains the right to request, which is ultimately the right to nothing.
Deputy Currie misrepresented our Bill, perhaps not deliberately. She took the first line, where we note the current policy, but did not reference what we were calling for, which is to introduce a real right for employees to flexible and remote work where it is reasonably practical. We know that you cannot lay a brick from home, teach at primary school from home or be an outdoor worker for a local authority from home. However, many jobs that are desk-based, predominantly computer-based or office-based can be done, and done effectively and efficiently, from home, with all the subsequent quality of life and climate benefits, and the impact on local economies.
It is the public service, led by Ministers, that is allowing the culture to shift, when we should be leading in the public sector and ensuring that people can work from home where it is reasonably practicable. This is feeding into the private sector and pulling people back into the office - back onto overcrowded train carriages and buses that are not turning up - when they should be working from home. Dublin is the 11th most congested city in the world, and Galway and Cork also have huge congestion problems.
We have a Government that has made a deliberate decision to diminish its investment in active travel and public transport versus its investment in roads. That is what it has done. During Leaders' Questions a number of weeks ago, the Taoiseach told my leader Deputy Bacik he felt the old model of 2:1 in favour of public transport and active travel versus roads was wrong. The Minister of State referenced Local Link but that was brought in by the Green Party. That is going to show no improvement even though it has been brilliant. I have had it in my constituency and it is brilliant, but it will not be invested in and improved under the current Government because all the Government wants to do is invest in more and more roads. We have set out a practical motion that is going to put workers and the climate first. It is going to reduce traffic and ensure our motorways are not car parks any more and there is instead an element of free flow. It is a balanced, constructive motion responding to what the Taoiseach always says. This Opposition does make constructive proposals and he needs to listen.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

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