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

As I said, the development of a rural-proofing model is a key commitment in Our Rural Future and work is progressing well on this. In conjunction with other Departments, we have identified the areas we wish to focus on as part of a pilot project. This includes sustainable tourism, which is an aspect that has a major impact on rural economies. We have, of course, launched the national outdoor recreation strategy. This will have great economic benefits. We just have to look at the Limerick greenway or the mountain bike trail in Kinnitty, and this is just to name a few examples. The national planning framework is another important area that has a major impact on balanced regional development, rural housing etc. Turning to remote working hubs, I launched 300 hubs nationwide as part of the connected hubs network. We are doing a lot of work with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to promote these hubs to companies as a landing space for multinationals. Cavan has a good example. There is a remote working hub there and PublicRelay, which is a multinational company, came to Ireland, rented a space there and it is employing 25 staff. This is the type of development that is important for rural Ireland.

See this speech in context