James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response and look forward to meeting him later today in the chamber of commerce in Youghal to discuss this issue. Is that funding sufficient in the post-Covid era? My position is that it is probably not. It is something Government should give a greater priority to. To the full suite of Ministers and the Tánaiste present, I say that their Department has a huge opportunity to step in with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to further invest in remote working centres that have the capacity in towns like Youghal with 8,000 or 9,000 people living in them to provide 100 or 50 work spaces with high-speed, good quality broadband.

Many towns, including Youghal, will suffer greatly through the closure of branches by our main banks, including Bank of Ireland, which will close its branch in Youghal shortly. Why not use such buildings in our towns that already have many of the features required, including broadband, to provide such a facility?

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