Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is right. The development of hub infrastructure is key. It almost a year since the Tánaiste launched our remote working strategy, the objective of which is to ensure that remote working becomes a permanent feature for our workforce. A key part of that is the option to work in a hub. Remote working does not always mean working from home and not everyone would choose that option. There is, however, a lot of interest in developing our hub space. Part of the strategy involved conducting a mapping exercise to clearly identify where our hubs are and to match that with funding administered through Enterprise Ireland, our own internal provincial affairs department and through various community schemes. That exercise is largely complete and shows that there is a network of around 400 hubs. There is still capacity in many of them but we have identified some areas where there is a shortage of capacity. We are working with the Community Enterprise Association Ireland to identify where the needs are so that we can respond with the development of new remote working, co-working spaces. Enterprise Ireland is due to publish its three year strategy in the coming months which will outline its role in administering departmental finance for the development of digital hub spaces and remote working spaces. I think that strategy will be published in January and it will identify the role of Enterprise Ireland in this area. The Department, through Enterprise Ireland, will fund these spaces in conjunction with other funding streams.

Another key way in which we fund hub development is through the regional enterprise strategies. Over the last roll-out of those plans in the last three years, nine regions invested in hub spaces all over the country. They have been very successful. Some of them are remote working spaces while others are development hubs in areas like food innovation, as well as business hubs. In a lot of the draft strategies that are coming through now and which will be signed off and announced in spring 2022 emphasis is placed on the development of hub spaces. It is important that we do that and that the money is secured to implement those schemes. We will work with colleagues in other Departments to promote investment in hub space and working from home. A key part of our Covid response was the provision of additional money to upgrade our existing hubs, many of which are managed by our Local Enterprise Offices, LEOs or in conjunction with LEOs or local economic development teams in our local authorities. Such upgrades were also made possible by grant funding through Enterprise Ireland. We have provided Enterprise Ireland with additional funds for 2022 to support its programme of development of remote working spaces and start-up spaces for SMEs.