Ms Orla Martin:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to attend to discuss how we can sustain small rural and community businesses through smart communities and remote working. I am accompanied by Ms Anna Marie Delaney, chief executive of Offaly County Council and Ms Geraldine Beirne, business adviser with our local enterprise office. For the purposes of this statement, I intend to address four areas, namely local enterprise office, or LEO, involvement; the local authority contribution; the wider context, future development and policy suggestions.

There are 31 LEOs across the local authority network. A LEO is the first stop shop for anyone wishing to start a business in Ireland. LEOs also promote entrepreneurship and act as advocates and catalysts for the establishment of a best-practice enterprise culture. Across the network of 31 LEO offices, staff are actively involved in supporting co-working hubs. Some do this through local authority hubs and some do it through their involvement with publicly supported designated activity companies, DACs, or companies limited by guarantee, CLGs.

The primary focus of LEOs is to encourage entrepreneurship and start-ups. In this context, managed co-working hubs are a valuable addition to the ecosystem of enterprise supports. They provide much more than a physical centre for start-ups and expanding enterprises. The interactions between early stage entrepreneurs, remote workers, more experienced business owners and LEO staff and supports contribute strongly to the enterprise culture of a town or village. Tenants may or may not be directly supported, depending on the nature of the relevant business, but a wide cohort is supported through LEO entrepreneurial development programmes, networking and other business supports.I refer in particular to sector-specific hubs. Managed co-working hubs with sectoral themes provide new opportunities to develop clusters of expertise and innovation. Sector-specific hubs include food hubs and other hubs with a defined theme. For example, we established The Junction business innovation centre in Offaly in 2015. This centre has a special focus on design, software and renewable energies. We are building on this with funding of almost €500,000 from Enterprise Ireland's regional development fund to develop the STREAM creative suite in Birr. This new co-working hub will leverage the big data generated from the Irish low frequency array, I-LOFAR, radio telescope and connect researchers and businesses in areas using big data.

The theme is STREAM, an acronym for science, technology, research, engineering, arts and mathematics. The businesses include everything from animation to astronomy to robotics to telecoms to software. A dedicated hub such as this can create a very compelling proposition for IDA Ireland to attract related foreign direct investment to the area. Furthermore, sector specific hubs can be a beacon for members of the diaspora looking to return or invest in their home counties.

The Local Government Reform Act 2014 provided for the strengthening of the role of the local authorities in economic, social and community development. Over recent years, local authorities have been contributing to the delivery of the physical infrastructure of co-working hubs and, in many cases, have been providing support for operational costs. Some hubs have been undertaken directly by local authorities and others have been delivered with support funding through LEADER, the town and village renewal scheme, urban and rural regeneration and Enterprise Ireland regional development funds. Furthermore, local authorities have been providing supports for the development of smart communities via the local authority network of broadband officers. They also prioritise needs through the network of 296 broadband communication points throughout Ireland and collaborate with providers and funders to provide fibre and Wi-Fi solutions for businesses, communities and tourist areas. Library services provide meeting rooms and space for informal hot-desking and for pre-start-ups researching business ideas. The local community and development committees assist community groups to incorporate co-working spaces into community centres. With regard to skills audits and commuter surveys, local authorities, in conjunction with the LEOs and business support units, are commissioning research data to stimulate economic investment. These data will also highlight opportunities for remote working and cluster development.

In a wider context, remote working in all of its forms can be very beneficial to individuals, businesses, communities and the environment. Volunteer groups such as Grow Remote are playing an important role in communicating the benefits of remote working. Individuals can benefit from reduced commutes and increased work-life balance. By introducing remote working, businesses can retain staff and grow staff numbers by accessing a wider talent pool. Communities benefit as busy co-working hubs contribute to vibrant towns and villages. This, in turn, leads to increased spend in the locality. The environment benefits from a reduction in carbon emissions. A reduction of commuters benefits Dublin and allows it thrive as an international business and visitor destination. The inclusion of remote working and co-working hubs as strategic objectives or supporting actions in a number of the regional enterprise plans demonstrates the importance of the concept and commitment to further development.

With regard to future development and policy suggestions, leveraging the opportunities of co-working hubs requires skilled managers. At present, the funding supports for managers are for three years' salary. We suggest funding support for five years would be more appropriate to allow the centres the required timescale to become viable and self-sustaining.

The next phase is enhanced connectivity between hubs and will involve exploring ways to support a formal network of co-working hubs so as to leverage economies of scale in research, collaboration, training and funding opportunities, include landing spaces for foreign direct investment and explore ways to facilitate IDA Ireland companies to establish an initial footprint in a town or region via the use of co-working hubs. The promotion of co-working hubs and other forms of remote working could benefit from legislation on developing a national policy on remote working. This could include appropriate legislation on employment law and could enable remote working to become the norm. We reference the UK flexible working regulations of 2014. Employers could be incentivised through consideration of an enhanced Revenue scheme or allowance for remote workers. There could also be public sector pilots that explore opportunities for public sector employees. This could include enhanced opportunities for remote working, either from home or through the use of dedicated co-working hubs in local authority buildings on a reciprocal basis.

I thank committee members for their time. The document pack we have provided includes details of some initiatives taking place throughout the country.