Paul Murphy: Workers have no right to remote working under current law
Paul Murphy spoke in a parliamentary debate about remote working, arguing the current law leaves workers without a right to remote work and accusing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of passing ineffective legislation. He said Labour's bill is an improvement but still concedes too much to employers and offers inadequate remedies for refusals.
Critique of current law
The speaker said the existing statutory framework effectively gives employers the right to refuse reasonable remote working requests and described the government's earlier law as "utterly pointless" after ICTU advised the committee. He accused the minister of misleading the Enterprise Committee by claiming the WRC appeal would be substantive rather than merely procedural.
Assessment of Labour's bill
Paul Murphy welcomed Labour's bill for granting a right to work remotely where reasonably practicable and for limiting grounds for refusal, calling it a significant improvement on the status quo. He nonetheless argued the bill retains too many concessions to employers and does not go far enough to secure workers' autonomy.
Compensation, commuting and family impact
He criticised the bill's proposed remedy for unreasonable refusals - a month's wages in compensation - as insufficient given long-term commuting burdens. The speech highlighted the reality for many families who face hours of commuting, limited time with children, and daily exposure to traffic.
Climate and health implications
Paul Murphy linked expanded remote working to the Climate Act target to cut emissions by half by 2030 and cited a briefing from the Climate and Health Alliance on reduced air pollution benefits. He said more remote working would mean fewer children with asthma and less COPD among older people, framing remote work as a public health and emissions-reduction measure.
Criticism of billionaire opponents
He criticised business figures opposed to remote work, naming David Brents and Dennis O'Brien as examples of those who prefer staff back in offices. He condemned such voices as prioritising surveillance of workers over workers' rights and wellbeing.
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Thanks, Chair, and thanks a lot to Deputy Lawler for bringing forward this Bill, which would represent a very significant improvement on the current situation. The current situation is that workers have no right to remote working at all. What Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael legislated for was a right for employers to refuse reasonable remote working requests. I was on the Enterprise Committee at the time when the government's bill went through and ICTU came in and told us that the government's law was utterly pointless. So Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael knew exactly what they were doing in bringing in totally pointless legislation that was effectively written by IBEG. The responsible minister at the time was Leo Varadkar. He is now going around portraying himself as a kind of progressive champion of workers' rights and other causes, but it isn't what he did when he was in office. He actually misled the committee at the time by claiming that the right of appeal to the WRC was not intended to be a solely procedural right and that a reason for refusal must be valid. He said, and I quote, it is not a case of an employer just ticking a box and saying no, but that is precisely what the legislation provides for. It's precisely what has happened and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael knew at the time. Labour's bill is much improved because it gives workers a right to work remotely where reasonably practicable and sets out only limited grounds for refusal. That's what workers need. I would still argue that this has too many concessions to employers though, that if an employer refuses a request unreasonably, then one option in the bill is to resolve the dispute by getting the employer to pay a month's wages in compensation. That's not a lot. One month's wages for spending the rest of your working life at this company commuting in heavy traffic for hours every day, only seeing your kids for a few minutes before they go to bed. That's the reality for so many working families today and it's completely unnecessary. The right to remote working should be made part of the government's obligations to cut emissions by half by 2030 under the Climate Act. We had an excellent briefing yesterday from the Climate and Health Alliance who spoke about how important it is for people's health to cut down on air pollution from traffic. More remote working would mean less kids with asthma, less older people suffering from COPD. It's a win-win for everyone, for almost everyone, apart from the David Brents, the Dennis O'Brien's of the world who want all their worker drones back in the office where they can keep a close eye on them and restrict any space for autonomy. Billionaire Dennis O'Brien says remote working was a mistake, he's a tax exile swanning around on a super yacht. We need a government that puts workers' rights first. You
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