Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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78. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the progress made on the intention stated in the programme for Government to enable increased hub working nationally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21101/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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On 12 August 2020, I launched a new €12 million Enterprise Centre Fund, which will be administered by Enterprise Ireland, to help enterprise centres impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The closing date for applications is noon on Wednesday September 30, 2020. The objective of the Powering the Regions – Enterprise Centres Fund is to provide financial support to eligible enterprise centres who have been impacted by COVID-19 for the implementation of a 6 to 12-month Recovery Plan. This plan should have the objective of strengthening the underlying viability of the centre to enable it to continue to deliver value added supports to their client companies.

These facilities provide affordable physical workspace for businesses across the country and deliver training and soft supports to their tenants and also other companies in their locality and regional area. As such, these facilities are key infrastructures in the ecosystem for supporting entrepreneurship and start-ups and remote working.

To date, the Government have invested significantly in the development of remote working and co-working centres/spaces in every region in Ireland through the three calls of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund and Border Enterprise Development Fund. The total funding committed to the full range of projects amounts to €117 million to support 79 projects in total.

Many of these projects will lead to additional co-working spaces in every region as they are progressed and completed. Based on Enterprise Ireland’s analysis, approximately 3,200 co-working/incubation spaces are being developed across 45 of the projects supported under Regional Enterprise Development Fund and Border Enterprise Development Fund.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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79. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if his Department is working to collate data on the national infrastructure of remote working hubs; the number, classification, offering and occupancy of same as was highlighted as a key implication in the remote work in Ireland report published as part of Future Jobs Ireland 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21102/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Remote working has now become more important than ever in Ireland as part of our response to Covid-19. Last December my Department published the Remote Work in Ireland report. This outlined the prevalence and types of remote working in existence in Ireland. It also identified influencing factors on the part of both employers and employees.

One of the findings of the report was the need for data on our country’s hub infrastructure to aid informed policy in the area of remote work. While my Department has not conducted research on the national hub infrastructure, there is a large volume of work underway on this topic across Government departments and agencies.

This includes the preparation of remote working guidance for employers and employees, which my Department is leading on. An Interdepartmental Group, consisting of relevant departments and agencies, has been formed to steer the delivery of this guidance. This work, which will be completed later this year, will be informed by the recent public consultation held by my Department and direct consultations with key stakeholders.

Alongside the work that my Department is leading on in relation to remote working, the Department of Rural and Community Development is leading on work to categorise hubs in Ireland. This includes the recently launched Atlantic Economic Corridor Hubs Map which was developed in partnership with the Western Development Commission in support of the AEC Enterprise Hubs Network. Data is available at