Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Whitmore for her questions. She is absolutely right in commending An Post. That organisation has been imaginative in recognising a very good commercial opportunity for itself while also helping companies to migrate their business to a more successful platform. An Post has been remarkably successful when one considers that, a couple of years ago, it was facing into very dark financial circumstances. The company has been completely turned around and remade and it continues to be very innovative. That success is a tribute to the workers and the management.

The selection of broadband contact points was made through the local authorities via their broadband officers. There was a lot of local consultation to seek to identify the most appropriate spots.

That resulted in almost 300 being selected. A small number have fallen away since.

The Deputy is correct that there is a difficulty with schools. The schools are private patron models so they most likely will not be making their premises available so workers can come in and be involved in remote working. However, they represent a small proportion of them. I believe 75 to 80 of them are in schools. In an ideal world one would see our schools being more open to that wider community participation, but in the past when I was Minister for Education and Skills I found it very difficult to bring patron bodies along to support new activities. That is likely to be a problem.

Obviously, kitting these out will be crucial. A tender has been successfully awarded by the Department of Rural and Community Development. The company that was successful will kit those out to develop the hubs. It is recognised that some will be more suitable locations than others and we will try to ensure that those that have the capacity to be kitted out with hot desks and so forth will be developed in that way. My Department is determined to do that.

I will see if we can reinstate the digital education scheme. No doubt it was arrested for good reason.

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