Mr. William Parnell:

On Deputy Carey's final point, I will certainly follow that up in the Department to see what the situation is.

On the wider subject of broadband connection points, BCPs, and remote working hubs, I said that I would come back to Deputy Kerrane with regard to the situation on the islands. There are 13 BCPs that are either established on islands or are due to be established, which includes Valentia Island, which we know is connected via a bridge. I can forward on a list of those islands. Inisheer, Inishbofin, Inishmaan, Tory Island, Bere Island, Sherkin Island, and Inishturk and Clare Island in Mayo, also have BCPs, either in situor due to be connected in the first quarter.

A lot of the BCPs are adapting now to provide remote working facilities. We can certainly see that the BCPs have the potential to do a lot more than simply be hot-desk spaces. My colleague Dr. Stjohn O'Connor was with the committee last week and he would have given a flavour of this. The intention is to try to develop the facilities and services that can be available and be provided online at these centres including, for example, e-health initiatives and so on.

There is, of course, a much broader number of remote working hubs and digital hubs around the country. The committee will also have heard from my colleague about this. Some of these are privately owned, some are operated by social enterprises and some are public hubs. Separate from the BCPs, there is a hub on Arranmore in County Donegal, and Údarás na Gaeltachta plans to open a hub on Achill Island. Again, while that is not an offshore island it gives the committee a sense of what is happening in that area. It is important that we continue to develop these. We are seeing the great interest in remote working, as the Deputy referred to, and there is an opportunity here to transform rural Ireland as the Minister, Deputy Humphreys has said.

I shall now return to Deputy Carey's question about the programmes and schemes for next year. One of the things the Department prides itself on is that we can be flexible and adaptable, and we can change our programmes as the needs arise. We are heading into 2021 keeping a very open mind on what is needed here. Notwithstanding the vaccine, it is clear that it will take some time before we ever return that what is being called "normal" living. We would also see the need for supports to help communities to help rural businesses to recover in a post-Covid-19 context. There is a lot of work to be done to build up again the tourism and hospitality sector. This is where programmes such as the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme and the rural regeneration and development fund can be very helpful in building again those assets that would help the medium-term and the longer-term recovery of rural areas, and I mean rural areas in the widest context.