Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that IDA Ireland is not involved in driving jobs back into any city centre. One of the key targets laid out in the White Paper is that over half of new investments will be in the regions. That figure has been achieved according to IDA Ireland's 2022 figures.

My Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development are developing a national hub strategy for the period 2023 to 2025. Its purpose is to combine the various national policies and schemes into a coherent and overarching development strategy, in a single document, to leverage the national hub network, funded through the Department of Rural and Community Development, as a public asset of significance and scale. IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, in addition to Údarás na Gaeltachta through the development of its gteic centres, are promoting and enabling the uptake of remote working access in the regions, including their most far-flung parts. We intend to continue to support the development of hub space and the roll-out of the national broadband plan to ensure remote working is available to those who want it.

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