Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I cannot speak specifically to the Airbnb question. As I said, however, my Department has invested significantly in remote work and remote working facilities. We will be publishing a new national hub strategy, which will include measures to underpin ongoing sustainable development. As we discussed here previously, hubs in 2025 are different from what they were in 2020, and we need to make sure we keep up to date with them.

In terms of the local authority issue, local authorities and the enterprise units are centrally involved in the regional enterprise plans. I know from my former Ministry that there are regional enterprise plans that work extremely well because of proactive local authority involvement. I encourage every local authority to be proactive. I encourage every chief executive to ensure they have a well-resourced economic development unit and in particular that they have a well-resourced LEO. The local enterprise offices right across the country, which are based out of our local authorities, are superb at promoting rural enterprise, working with LEADER and other operations. A good LEO is invaluable to any local authority.

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