Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for once again gracing us with his presence. He is a great friend to this Chamber. I thank him for always making himself available to us.

I call on the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to make a comprehensive statement on the Department’s remote working strategy and the specific targets set out for the remainder of this term. This is a vital plea for the future prosperity and sustainability of rural communities, a future that hinges on decisive action and clear accountability. It is building on the framework set out in Our Rural Future 2021-2025. When Our Rural Future was launched in March 2021, it committed to the establishment of a network of 400 remote working hubs nationwide, a key element of the Government’s policy to revitalise rural Ireland. By mid-2021, 66 hubs were live. The target rose to more than 200 hubs in 2022. Most recently, Connected Hubs reported approximately 300 hubs as early as 2025, with the 400-hub ambition still the policy as a central target.

A lot of money has been invested in this. Coupling that with the investment in our rural broadband plan, we have made huge strides in delivering vital infrastructure to support these rural communities. The attractiveness of high-paid jobs in this sector has been proven. A remote working survey undertaken by the University of Galway and the Western Development Commission in 2023 had plenty of proof that remote-enabled jobs yielded economic and demographic dividends, especially in rural areas, such as those in west Roscommon where I come from. They secure the prosperity, longevity and sustainability of rural communities. Remote working fosters survival. It supports town footfall, boasts local economies, reduces commuting and carbon emissions, and sustains services and schools. It also delivers high-paying jobs to rural communities, which will strengthen the long-term economic sustainability of those communities. It is for that particular reason I raise this topic today.

I recently spoke with a number of rural GAA clubs, especially dual clubs, that were struggling to field teams on a weekly basis across all grades. While we are in a housing crisis, we really need to take advantage of the infrastructural developments that we have already invested in in rural Ireland and better promote the quality of life we can deliver in those areas. There is a community benefit to attracting these jobs to the area.

The blueprint is clear and momentum is building. We need measurable targets, firm timeframes and transparency. This is the only way to guarantee that the investment of more than €100 million, the broadband upgrades and the hub network will translate into decent, high-paid jobs, rising rural populations and sustainable communities. I ask the Minister of State to outline his Department’s remote working targets for 2025 and beyond, the tools it will use, such as relocation supports, targets and reporting, and how he will hold himself and his Department publicly accountable for delivering on these targets.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Scahill for raising this important matter. He is right; it is about putting in place sustainability for rural Ireland and tackling the issues he rightly addressed. It is about ensuring we have a future in rural Ireland that is based on the needs of the people. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Calleary.

As the Senator will be aware, we have witnessed profound change in recent years in the area of remote working. As the Minister of State in the Department, I am a firm believer in the benefits that remote working can bring. It is a revolution that is waiting to further happen in rural Ireland, particularly in our rural communities. I am pleased to confirm that the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht continues to support the roll-out of remote working facilities throughout the country.

From a policy point of view, this Government's commitment to remote working is set out in our national remote working strategy, Making Remote Work. This policy was published by the then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment four years ago and seeks to ensure that remote working is a permanent feature in the Irish workplace in a way that maximises economic, social and environmental benefits, as the Senator has articulated quite eloquently this morning. It emphasises the importance of adequate infrastructure to avail of remote working opportunities, both at home and in hubs, to ensure that the economic, social and environmental benefits of remote working are maximised. The strategy also commits to creating a conducive environment for remote working and building a remote work policy and guidance framework.

The importance of remote working is also strongly recognised in the national rural development policy, Our Rural Future, as the Senator has said. A key focus of Our Rural Future is to optimise digital connectivity to support vibrant, sustainable rural communities, ensuring equality of access to digital services. One of the key commitments set out in the policy in this regard was the establishment of a key network of 400 remote working hubs throughout the country by the end of this year. To this end, Connectedhubs.ie was launched in mid-2021. I am happy to confirm that there are now 387 hubs live on the network, which continues to grow and expand. Connected Hubs provides workplace solutions for remote workers, entrepreneurs and businesses. The hubs are more than workplaces; they are vibrant communities designed to create creativity and foster connections. The initiative is managed by the Western Development Commission in conjunction with our Department. I am sure that many Members, particularly Senator Scahill, are well aware of and have experienced at first hand the benefits of these hubs and the high-quality remote working options that are on the Connected Hubs network.It is important to note that the range of funding supports available for the development and establishment of remote working hubs and facilities has been key to the success of this initiative to date. In 2021 and 2022, some €14 million was allocated to a range of hubs across the country under what was termed the "Connected Hubs Call". This competitive funding stream allowed hubs to apply for funding to increase and improve the facilities they could offer to remote workers. A wide array of improved facilities was delivered under this scheme, including the provision of privacy booths, additional hot-desking facilities and the provision of more own-office facilities. This ensured that the hubs on the network were able to respond to and address the varying needs of remote workers across the country.

Similarly, a range of other schemes operated by our Department has also provided significant levels of funding for the development of remote working facilities in rural communities across the country in recent years. These schemes include the town and village renewal scheme, LEADER and the rural regeneration and development fund.

As Minister of State, I have been fortunate to see many of these high-quality projects first hand as they come to fruition. In June, I was in Mitchelstown and Cobh, where I opened two remote working hubs. Both of them are co-located in the local libraries and will be key assets in each town. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, visited the Station House hub in Hacketstown, which was funded through the town and village renewal scheme.

As the Senator said, it is about bringing the different actors together to offer a variety of services such as hot-desk facilities, enterprise supports and direct access to high-quality education. In this case, this was done in partnership with the South East Technological University. In other parts of the country, it will be done with other third level institutions.

This Government is committed to the concept of remote working. It is now firmly embedded in many of our lives. It is a change in our working world which has brought huge benefits. The Senator raised the GAA and other sporting organisations as an example. It is important that we build on what we have achieved and that we are held to account. I look forward to working with the Senator in the area of west Roscommon to ensure we can enhance the value and offering to people in rural parts of Ireland.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. At a time when Ireland has nearly 100% employment, we have the capacity to deliver high-paying, knowledge-based jobs directly into the heart of rural communities. Tens of thousands of remote-working roles are available globally. Ireland is well-positioned to capture a significant share of this market. By establishing the right structures, Ireland could create a fourth pillar of employment, complementing indigenous companies, foreign direct investment and agriculture.

I met a lady on Saturday. She is a Dublin native, but lives in Ballyhaunis in east Mayo. She said she is getting a city wage in a rural community, which means she is in the position of living a much better quality of life through remote working. She thinks it needs to be encouraged a lot more. I spoke to employees of Grow Remote recently. Its co-founder, Tracy Keogh, recently spoke about the programme for Government.

The cross-party group needs to set up an agency responsible for winning a proportion of remote jobs available to the market. If we were to land 10,000 of the available 100,000 jobs, it would mean €130 million for the taxpayer and jobs in the most remote regions of Ireland. It will require structural changes, as we are not currently set up to drive this. Some EU funding structures do not incentivise remote work. We need quick wins to ring-fence remote jobs to the island of Ireland. We have invested heavily in this particular sector. We just need to follow through and support the delivery of these jobs and the investment we have already made in the sector.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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Again, I thank Senator Scahill for his very valuable contribution. The Government is committed to the concept of remote working and is firmly of the view that it is about delivering real benefits in rural communities. As the Senator said, it is about high-paid, knowledge-based jobs and working with people like Tracy in Grow Remote to achieve that fourth pillar he rightly spoke about. We cannot just stop now and say that we have done X; we must continue to ensure we do have these quality jobs, as the Senator has called for. He gave the example of a woman living in Ballyhaunis getting a good wage. That is why the programme for Government commits to further development of the connected hubs network and why we will build on the learnings from the hub initiatives to see how we can raise the potential of the network to expand further in the coming years.

To support the ambition the Senator has spoken about and that the Government has, the Department will publish its first national hub strategy later this year. For the first time, the strategy will chart the vision for the future and further development of the range of remote working enterprise hubs currently in place across the country. It will examine the benefits already delivered and set out a clear set of actions to help us to ensure a sustainable future for these important assets. The shared ambition is to ensure that the benefits of remote working continue to be available to our workforce throughout the country.

As the Senator said, we have seen first-hand how important the remote working revolution has been. The Government is committed to this. There has been a lot of consultation as part of the Our Rural Future roadshow and the feedback is very clear. I was in charge of it. We have made significant strides in the areas of remote working and in facility provision, but we must now work on a rural development policy which will seek to build on this success and ensure we can have further dividends for people in rural Ireland.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. We will have a further written consultation on Our Rural Future, but I look forward to the Senator engaging with me and the Department to ensure we have a strategy that promotes remote working and sets targets that can deliver for people.