Up to a third of the labour force spends at least part of the week working from home, latest census figures show. But how do employers know whether their staff are working, or lolling about watching Netflix and swapping jokes on WhatsApp?
Ireland’s population of asylum seekers, refugees and Ukrainians seeking temporary protection from the war with Russia has grown rapidly over the past two years to well over 100,000.
It is already the hot issue of 2024. Any politician will tell you that immigration has joined housing as the topic that dominates political discussions on doorsteps, at pub counters and in kitchens.
The bitterly cold winter weather has coincided with an accommodation crisis for asylum seekers looking for international protection in Ireland, and for refugees who continue to arrive from Ukraine.
It was the year of royal revelations and rugby, of Barbenheimer and Irish Booker success, of broken records in athletics and bust-ups on the pitch in football. At home, the news was dominated by the crisis at RTÉ and, later, by violence on the streets of Dublin. Abroad, Russia continued to wage war on Ukraine and the Gaza Strip was bomarded by Israel after the Hamas attack of October 7.