Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. My Department estimates that there is likely to be in excess of 350 hubs in operation across the country. Validating the number of hubs is one of the first tasks of the interdepartmental group which, as I said, is being chaired by the Secretary General of my Department. A number of other Departments are involved in that group.

This group will focus on collecting the data on the number of hubs that are in operation and it will be building a composite map of networks. This work is expected to be concluded in early to mid-2021. I take the Deputy's point on the islands. Some very good work has been undertaken on Arranmore Island in increasing its conductivity. I want to see more such focus on the islands because there is no reason why one cannot live on an island and work remotely for a multinational enterprise. This is now possible and this is a great time to capitalise on the opportunities that we have.

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