Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 23 November 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Challenges Facing the Technology Sector: Discussion

Photo of David StantonDavid Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Therefore, it is pretty well paid and provides other perks as well. I thank Ms Fitzpatrick for that.

I have a question for our IDA Ireland colleagues and Ms Fitzpatrick might wish to come back on it also. We had much discussion earlier this year on remote working, hybrid working and working from home. In July, the Scottish Government gave £42 million to CodeBase to launch a network of tech hubs. Do we need to do more to encourage and support remote working? I know that a considerable amount of work has been done by the Department of Rural and Community Development in setting up connected hubs, but many of them are quite small. Is there potential for something bigger involving larger hubs? That would do two things. It would improve the quality of life with people no longer required to travel long distances every day twice a day and it would also help our climate targets as it would reduce pollution. Has IDA Ireland looked at that and considered it as a way to help companies to retain employees? Rather than having it all concentrated in the cities, are any of the larger companies here considering outsourcing some of their work to towns such as Youghal in my constituency which could have a hub like that? I am sure my other colleagues would have similar examples.