Remote working
The Government is to publish the heads of a bill on the right to request home or remote working today.
The legislation would see employers obliged to consider an employee's request to work remotely, however, they will be able to refuse with if there is an adequate reason to do so.
Opposition politicians have called for an all-out right to work remotely, claiming the employer's option for refusal does not go far enough for employees. Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on enterprise Louise O’Reilly said the planned legislation should be “more robust” and that no reasonable request from an employee should be refused.
Energy costs
Cabinet are set to discuss plans to give households €100 off their electricity bills by the end of March.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan is to bring a memo to Cabinet on the Electricity Cost (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measure Bill, with the €100 credit being put forward in response to spiralling energy costs.
Under the plans, the credit is to be applied excluding VAT, so the total benefit to the electricity account holder will be €113.50.
Lisa Smith trial
The trial of Lisa Smith, a former Defence Forces member accused of membership of Islamic State, is due to commence today after her bid to have the charges dropped was rejected on Monday.
The Louth woman is charged with an offence contrary to the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005 for being a member of unlawful terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) between October 28th, 2015 and December 1st, 2019.
The trial will take place in the non-jury Special Criminal Court.
Leaving Cert debate
Discussions over this year's Leaving Certificate are to continue today, hoping to determine whether the traditional written exams should proceed as planned or if they should be replaced by last year's hybrid model.
While officials have said the written exams should proceed, student and parent groups have argued the hybrid system would be fairer due to the impact the pandemic has had on their last two years of school.
The matter will be discussed at an Oireachtas Education Committee on Tuesday afternoon.
