Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and Ms Keogh for their presentations here this morning. For once, it sounds like a positive story and something exciting with significant potential for our communities and for those of us living in rural Ireland.

We tend to focus on negative developments such as post office closures. They present a physical disadvantage, as we perceive it to be, in terms of the loss of another important building, business and footfall with respect to the opportunity to bring people into our towns and villages. I am thinking of towns such as Kilnaleck and Killeshandra that have been affected in that way but, as Ms Tracy Keogh pointed out, there are probably other small towns that face different types of difficulties. For example, Belturbet and Bawnboy in west Cavan are on the cusp of losing a secondary school. It is a scary prospect for towns or villages to face a school closure and the loss of youth and footfall that would entail in terms of the families, students and staff who circulate in them.

The presentation made by Ms Keogh is about a positive development, about which I would like to know more. I compliment the Minister of State who has been greatly involved in this initiative. I would be interested to hear where the organisation's other chapters are located because I am not aware of this initiative. Does it have a chapter in Cavan or Monaghan, which are the counties I represent? Ms Keogh's message today is that two elements have been fundamental to the success of this initiative, namely, community and communication. There are many voluntary groups in our towns and villages across the country, be it the town development association, the Tidy Towns committee, or those involved in the Community Alert programme, which all do different and important jobs. They are the glue that holds our communities together. The initiative Ms Keogh presented is an opportunity to bring all those under one roof and, more important, provide jobs in our small towns and villages.

I travel the N3 to Dublin and back every day and it is evident we have a commuter crisis. Commuting is what kills people and diminishes quality family life and family time because people spend many hours in their cars travelling to and from work. That is the experience of many people in Cavan and Monaghan which do not have a rail service. As the train is not an option, people spend two or three hours travelling to and from work every day. They are exhausted by the time they get home and they do not have quality time to spend with their young children, spouses or whomever.

This is a positive initiative. Will Ms Keogh expand on the point my colleague, Deputy Rabbitte, raised regarding the funding opportunities that may exist to embrace this initiative? Are local enterprise offices, LEOs, involved in this initiative? Has there been a gender breakdown of the number of females and males benefitting from this initiative? It would offer a major opportunity to women who have great career prospects but who have had to be put them on hold because of childcare expenses. For most families, childcare can be as expensive or more expensive than their mortgage. Couples have to weigh up whether it is sensible for both partners to work. Women are the potentially untapped human resource that can be expanded. This initiative provides a platform for women to work remotely. Have any studies been done in this area? Are there figures on a gender breakdown of who benefits most from this?

Ms Keogh is right that we tend to jump on the bandwagon about what is wrong in our communities. The subject of her presentation provides an opportunity that communities should consider. As the Minister of State correctly stated, every town is unique in terms of its disadvantages but also in terms of its advantages. It may be close to a motorway or it may have a secondary school or an education and training board in the locality that produces young graduates who ordinarily would have to go to college in Galway, Dublin or Belfast. Perhaps this initiative would offer jobs that they could tap into in their communities and keep people - our most important resource - in rural communities.

I have two essential questions. First, is the organisation working with the LEOs? What other funding opportunities are available to Grow Remote? I also asked about the gender breakdown. Communication is key to this initiative. The many voluntary groups working in our communities tend not to communicate with each other. However, they are all passionate about working for the betterment of their communities. This initiative would be a vehicle to enhance this. I ask Ms Keogh to expand on her proposals in this regard.