Mattie McGrath urges employers to fund remote working infrastructure
Mattie McGrath spoke in support of the Deputy Nocturne Amendment, urging tangible support for remote working and employer-funded infrastructure. He highlighted broadband shortages, insufficient daily allowances and the strain on families and commuters as reasons to back the amendment.
Support for the amendment
He said he supports the amendment and repeated his earlier intervention on the issue, arguing the measure would help respond to the growth of remote working since lockdown.
Remote working challenges
He detailed practical problems faced by remote workers, including lack of available broadband and inadequate home facilities. He noted the particular difficulty when both partners work from home and children are present, which can create frustration and technology limitations.
Employer-funded infrastructure
He called for employers to be encouraged, through concessions or supports, to invest in infrastructure for employees working from home. He described the current pittance of allowances - mentioning amounts of around three euros a day - as insufficient and argued for more substantial, tangible support.
Environmental and wellbeing impact
He argued that reducing long commutes - sometimes two to four hours daily - benefits workers, reduces stress and pressure, and eases environmental damage from excessive road travel. He presented these points in support of the amendment's wider benefits.
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I, too, raised this award, Deputy Nocturne Amendment, and I think, looking at the trade, I'm a self-employed person myself, but just the whole remote working, and it has come into its own since lockdown, and, you know, the difficulties around that, for many reasons, and some are, you know, the lack of available broadband, and the lack of available facilities, and I think that workers must be encouraged, and if the employers could, in this case, get some, you know, concessions or supports, to help put in some infrastructure for those workers and families, because if you're a family, even if the husband and wife or partners are working from home, the drain and the services, and then if there are children in the household as well, you know, are involved in that area, depending on the lines and depending on the technology, it can be very frustrating, and, you know, the pittance of allowances there for three euros or something a day is nothing, because it needs support, and it needs tangible support, and it needs to be biased towards this, to encourage employers, to be able to push more infrastructure, as I said, for their employees, because everyone benefits, even, you know, some people are travelling two and three and four hours, twice a day to work, and look at the amount of time they're fresher in work, when they've worked eight or nine hours, or whatever they want to work, rather than be stuck in the care, damaging the environment, and put enormous pressure on themselves, because the roads are so busy, and indeed, you know, strain and stress, so I'm supporting this amendment as well. Thank you. Thank you.
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