Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is really welcome to see those 189 hubs rolled out at a fairly fast pace. I know of some who have looked for it and it has been up and running fairly quickly. That is all really welcome. There is a lot of focus on remote working in Our Rural Future. It is so important that we get it right. Equally, post Covid, it is really important that the level of remote working remains steady. We know from reports that the number of vehicles and cars on our road are the same as pre-Covid times. There is a concern that the need for remote working hubs may not be as great if people are going back to the office. We need to be very careful in that respect.

I appreciate that the legislation on remote working is not coming from the Minister's Department. Has she been consulted on it? Will her Department be engaging with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on it? That legislation will be key.

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