Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we approach full employment, people are looking for more choice in their employment and for opportunities that contribute to a more positive work-life balance. For many the idea of working from rural Ireland is increasingly attractive. There are some who would love to return to their home place, and others who desire to get away from the traffic and higher costs associated with city living. For these people, working from home or from a shared workspace in a local town is the ideal. An organisation has now been set up to help people to do just that. Grow Remote is an organisation that has only been set up recently but already has 40 chapters all over the country. According to one survey on remote working, 62% of people do not work remotely because they do not know how to get started and fear they will not have a work community to share things with. Grow Remote has been set up entirely by volunteers and is addressing these issues. I was surprised to learn that 200,000 people are already working remotely full-time or part-time in Ireland. This organisation provides them with an opportunity to meet with each other, network, share ideas and information and organise resources where they deem it necessary.

The nature of debate in this House often means that we hear negative stories on negative issues, but this is a good news story. It is a story of people who got together and are trying to make life better for themselves and their communities. A group like this would be very welcome in my own home town of Athlone. It would complement current plans for a high-speed hub on the west side of Athlone and make it more attractive to live and work in the midlands. We all know that Athlone is the centre of the universe. Two weeks ago, Grow Remote addressed the Joint Committee on Rural and Community Development and was very well received. I am asking the Leader to ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Seán Canney, and other Ministers to do whatever they can to help this organisation so that people can live and work in rural Ireland.

On the subject of the quorum, I feel strongly that Senator Craughwell and others are against the idea of reducing the quorum. These people want new politics. They want to have a leaders' and whips' meeting every week. They want the Leader to agree the agenda with them instead of having the Leader determine the agenda like it was in the old days. They want to share in that.