Labour Councillor Helen Ogbu has called on Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to urgently support and protect remote work opportunities for workers in Galway, following new CSO figures which show a significant drop in the number of people working from home across Ireland in the past year and a sharp increase in those now forced to return to daily commutes.
Cllr. Ogbu said that across Galway, she is hearing from workers who reorganised their lives around flexible or remote working arrangements in good faith, only to now find themselves being hauled back into offices without justification.
“People in Galway are facing longer journeys to work, higher childcare costs and increased stress because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are refusing to put proper protections in place for remote work where roles allow.
“In Galway, many families moved further from their place of work due to the housing crisis, relying on remote work to make that move sustainable. Now, workers in Galway are seeing that flexibility stripped away. For carers, people with disabilities and those living in Galway who cannot afford to live near their workplace, remote work is not a perk. It is often the difference between being able to stay in employment or being pushed out altogether,” she said.
Cllr Ogbu said that we are already seeing the impact locally in Galway through increased congestion, longer commuting times and reduced quality of life for workers and their families.
“There is no credible evidence that forcing workers in Galway back into offices improves productivity, but there is clear evidence that it increases traffic, damages wellbeing and undermines our climate commitments.
“Labour’s Work Life Balance Bill would give workers in Galway a real and enforceable right to request remote work where their role allows and would end refusals based on habit or managerial whim.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael claim opposing stronger protections for remote work supports flexibility, but in reality it protects a hands-off approach that leaves all the power with employers and none with workers. Workers in Galway currently have no meaningful right to challenge unreasonable refusals to work remotely, even where their job can be done from home.” she added.
“People in Galway cannot afford to wait for reviews that may or may not happen in the future. They are facing longer commutes and higher costs now. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael must stop siding with employer vetoes over workers’ lives and act to ensure that workers in Galway have a real and enforceable right to request remote work where their role allows.
“I’m calling on Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to support meaningful protections for remote work and ensure that workers in Galway are not forced into unnecessary and costly daily commutes,” she concluded.
