The door has been "firmly closed" on increased worker sick days, the enterprise minister has said. Peter Burke told the Irish Examiner that any increase in paid sick leave from a statutory minimum of five days was off the table. "One of the things I really had a hard look at is business viability, and I really acted on evidence. I do think remote working was one of the opportunities taken out of the pandemic, and one of the greatest fears of many in the sectors was that productivity would fall significantly once remote working took hold. "We currently have open a consultation on remote working and different agile practices of working that we're looking at results of next year.

Source: Irish Examiner January 02, 2026 21:30 UTC