Mr. Martin Shanahan:

I will return to remote working in a moment and bring in my colleague Mr. Curran to discuss hub working.

The Deputy said there had been fewer announcements in Cork recently. I would probably beg to differ. During 2021, there were announcements from Convergint, Alter Domas, Boston Scientific, Zazzle, Eli Lilly, Qorvo, Accenture, which announced 500 jobs, Varonis, Tigera, Innowatts, Microchip, Huawei, Logitech, Mediallia, SGS and CH Robinson. That is not all of them, just those I have to hand.

There were a significant number of announcements. There was also a 3% increase in employment in the Cork region during the past year. Cork, as our second city, is probably very well served by FDI.

Regarding the site at Ballyadam, the Deputy's question related to the attractiveness of the site and the road infrastructure leading to it. IDA Ireland markets that site on a regular basis. We believe it is an attractive site. There are developments to the N25. Anything that increases access to strategic sties is extremely important from our perspective and very welcome from the perspective of the companies with which we engage. We are doing some work on access to that site with respect to a slip road that is currently under planning. The application is being considered and once that work is done I hope it will increase the attractiveness of the site. The development of the overall N25 should increase the attractiveness of that site. We will continue to market that site.

On the Deputy's question on attracting large companies to the east coast, as I mentioned, it is clear and has been heavily reported, that Dublin and the east region is constrained from a supply of electricity perspective and that poses a challenge for large energy users that wish to invest in Dublin or the east coast. IDA Ireland will work with client companies with existing operations in that region on their expansions. We are heavily engaged with EirGrid on a regular basis on both individual projects and the overall availability of energy supply. We will also work with investors to target regional locations outside Dublin and the east coast where the energy grid supports both investment in infrastructure and the ability to scale and expand.

The Deputy mentioned the Open Doors initiative. I am familiar with it. IDA Ireland and a number of our client companies are members of it. I agree with the Deputy that it is an excellent initiative.

Returning to the issue of remote working hubs and remote working in general, the FDI base has proved to be very flexible and resilient during the past 24 months. Obviously, many employees such as those working in manufacturing companies, have to go into work. However, many companies pivoted to a completely virtual environment during the period where employees had to work remotely but primarily from home. That has worked very well. It has worked well for individuals and for the companies involved. My expectation is that in a post-Covid environment, and we hope it is post-Covid, with employees, in some instances, potentially returning to the office, many employers will offer flexibility. Some of that will relate to the ability to work remotely at home or in remote working hubs. There are a significant number of remote working hubs across the country. I will ask my colleague, Mr. Curran, to comment on this area.