Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

First, on the Our Rural Future policy, can the Minister update us on its work plan for the coming year? She might give us details on how she thinks it is going to work. Is she considering a number of the recommendations and actions from the report on a year-by-year basis and, as each one is completed, will she mark it off the list and move on?

My second issue is in respect of remote working, which the Minister referenced a couple of times in her opening statement. Remote working is really important. At one stage during the pandemic, as many as 900,000 workers were working remotely which, especially in rural areas, is a huge number of people. In recent days and weeks, the Tánaiste has made comments about workers returning to their offices. Has the Minister communicated to him and his Department the importance of keeping as many of these people in their communities so that they do not have to return to an office setting or, if they do, it is on a limited basis weekly? I ask because we do not want to see many of the thousands of people who had the opportunity to work from home in the last year, particularly in counties like Roscommon, Galway and Mayo, having to resume commuting to Dublin, Cork, Galway or to wherever, to their office jobs. I am conscious that people should be careful that, when calling for workers to return to their offices, they keep in mind the many thousands of people who have been working remotely in the past year and hope to continue doing so. We do not want to see any of that undone.