Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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57. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will outline the work that his Department is undertaking to fully utilise broadband connectivity in increasing sustainable employment given that Ireland is set to become one of the most connected countries in Europe for fibre broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58143/22]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Thanks to the Covid pandemic, there is now a realisation that delivering broadband to every home in Ireland has the potential to transform our economy, nowhere more than in rural Ireland. We have witnessed a spike in local house prices as tech jobs have relocated from the Dublin docks to rural townlands, but this happened by default, not design. It is now time to act strategically to bring foreign direct investment, FDI, jobs to every village in Ireland.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Digital infrastructure is one of the four dimensions of the Government's national digital strategy, which was launched in February of this year. A progress report on the cross-governmental implementation of the national digital strategy was published last week. I encourage all Deputies to consider it.

As the Deputy will be aware, responsibility for connectivity and the national broadband plan lies with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. I agree it is clear that robust broadband infrastructure will be vital in reaching our national digital strategy targets, which will enable businesses to take advantage of digital technologies and increase sustainable employment. Just last week, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications published its digital connectivity strategy, which sets out the targets that will be achieved by the telecommunications sector in providing digital connectivity across the State. It also identifies the key enablers that will be implemented to ensure these targets are met.

As outlined in the White Paper on Enterprise, also published last week, sustained investment in digital infrastructure, including connectivity and cybersecurity, provides the foundations for our digital economy. As we said at the launch of the White Paper, it is all about getting good jobs for people and getting those jobs and investment opportunities to all parts of the country.

It is clear that connectivity will be vital in achieving progress in the targets for my Department, namely 75% enterprise take-up of cloud, big data and artificial intelligence by 2030, and 90% of SMEs at a basic level of digital intensity by 2030.

We now have nine regional enterprise plans in place, which will encourage collaboration among all the stakeholders to strengthen the regional offering for enterprise and therefore create an environment for successful economic growth, sustainable employment and development across the country. Digital connectivity will be a key enabler of this regional economy.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. The reality is that the State is investing significantly in building communications infrastructure right across this country. By the middle of next year, 58% of households in Ireland will have access to a pure fibre connection but the difficulty is that we now need to exploit the investment to bring high-value jobs into every single community. This happened by default during the Covid pandemic. As we know, IDA Ireland is now redoubling efforts to bring the jobs back to the city centres rather than disperse them across provincial Ireland. What is the specific job strategy now in place to try to drive some of the FDI jobs into rural communities?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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We can play around with words all we like. While 50% of the jobs are outside Dublin, there are very few of them outside the cities.

If we are going to get a proper regional spread, it must be outside centres such as Galway The Minister of State is aware that in our region this is where all the jobs are going currently.

We spent a huge amount of public money on broadband infrastructure. We spent a huge amount of public money, which is being allocated at the moment for urban and rural regeneration, to make our towns and rural communities nice places to live. We have a unique opportunity to attract multinational investment into every village in Ireland. No other country in the world can do it. We need to market that properly.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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We are doing that. I have outlined the national hub strategy, which I presume the Deputy is talking about. This will enable remote working and employees working in remote areas. We also secured up to €145 million from the European Regional Development Fund, ERDF, to fund the regional enterprise plans. The Minister of State, Deputy English, and myself are engaged with regional enterprises across the country to ensure we get the kind of development the Deputy is looking at. There is €3.5 million in planning funding for feasibility, announced for 47 projects across all regions, including counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. I am more than happy to engage with the Deputy on the west plan to assist the kinds of projects and the kind of employment creation he mentioned.