David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the things I am interested in is regional enterprise development. IDA Ireland expects to spend €60 million on development property solutions in different areas across the country this year and has three advanced facilities. Are they buildings that IDA Ireland has designed and built in Monaghan, Dundalk and Sligo? It is expected that four further facilities will be delivered this year in Carlow, Limerick, Waterford and Athlone. Could the Minister provide some more information about them? How did IDA Ireland decide where to locate these facilities? Did it carry out research across the country? Did it pick spots with no facilities?

This committee has done a lot of work on remote, blended and hybrid working. This has all kinds of advantages for people in that they do not have to travel long distances to work yet it appears that a lot of IDA Ireland-supported companies are not in this space. In other words, they still insist on bringing people long distances into a centre. What discussions have taken place between these companies and IDA Ireland in the context of developing remote working hubs on a larger scale than the smaller ones we have seen, with three or four hot desks, in provincial towns? In this scenario, people would not have to travel and their quality of life would improve dramatically. Are the Department and IDA Ireland, and, possibly, Enterprise Ireland to a lesser extent, looking at this? It would cut down on pollution, travel time and stress, improve people's quality of life and benefit the regions. People would not have to travel to cities, which causes the congestion and parking issues that the Minister for Transport is giving out about. Could the Minister reflect on this and come back to us? I am thinking of Youghal in my constituency where people leave every day to go to Cork city and come back in the evening. I have been saying for quite some time that it is an area where there could be a pilot and possibly IDA Ireland might build some large remote working hub and people could work there rather than having to travel long distances. When the Minister talks about innovation and new initiatives, it might be something that might be worth considering.

I am interested in the new construction technology centre in Galway. Funding of €500,000 will be provided. The total amount will be €5 million over a number of years. Perhaps the Minister might give an overview of the kind of work being undertaken there. Obviously, it is very innovative.