Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Remote and flexible working can offer renewed vigour to Ireland's rural development plan. It is crucial to attract workers to rural Ireland after the pandemic with new job opportunities, remote working hubs and supports for those working from home. Without remote working, rural decline will continue beyond its current trajectory.

The Government's five-year strategy, Our Rural Future, promises to invest in rural regions after the pandemic, with a particular focus on enabling remote working in rural communities, revitalising town centres and rolling out broadband. However, the biggest flaw of this plan remains the complete lack of satisfactory broadband services in many rural communities across the country. Gaggin, near Bandon, is fighting for its right to get a mast put up by Three Ireland in an area that cannot be seen from the road. The local authority decided to object to the mast. People are trying to work from home and the erection of a mast would sort that out. Work was going on last year, as was mentioned by RTÉ, in the church car park. People were able to work at home. The local authority decided the mast is too high and must be taken down. The issue is now before An Bord Pleanála. That kind of negativity gives people no chance to work at home.

During the pandemic, we all discovered new ways of working. That can, and should, help our rural communities. In order for rural order to play a central role in our recovery from the impact of Covid-19, we need a radical step change to improve and upgrade the infrastructure, including the broadband infrastructure. I know from my constituents that the lack of broadband in parts of Cork South-West means there is no way people can live there because they cannot work from home. The Government needs to work with private wireless broadband operators while we wait for the roll-out of this dream national plan that never comes to the aid of local communities.

We all know the cost of diesel and petrol now. It has been leaked that the paltry sum of 15 cent or 20 cent will be reduced from the price of a litre of petrol or diesel by the Government. That is shocking and disgraceful. It is a measure that opposes families, work and everything else.

There are other areas we need to consider. We should examine whether the larger companies should pay the energy costs of their employees who are working from home. That is another issue that must come into play. People are paying high prices to travel to work. They are paying the high price of energy costs if they are working from home. The least that the larger companies with employees working from home can do is to pay for their energy costs. That is something that needs to be looked at further.

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