Written answers

Wednesday, 3 February 2021

Department of Rural and Community Development

Remote Working

Photo of Patricia RyanPatricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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985. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she has considered establishing co-working spaces in rural areas of counties Kildare and Laois to facilitate persons working remotely within their communities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5453/21]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has invested significantly in co-working spaces and enterprise hubs over the last number of years though programmes such as the Town and Village Renewal Scheme and the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund.

Investments approved include a digital hub in Mountmellick and an enterprise hub in Mountrath, Co, Laois.  A Food hub is also being supported in Athy, Co. Kildare.

My Department, along with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, has also invested in the establishment of a network of Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) throughout the country.BCPs are amongst the first deliverables under the National Broadband Plan in the State intervention area and will provide free public access to high-speed wifi broadband in some of the most remote parts of the country.

Included in the BCP network are a number of sites in Kildare and Laois with plans to provide for remote working, co-working and community use.  Full details of the location of all of the BCPs, both installed and planned, are available at .

I have secured an additional €5 million under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme this year for the further development of remote working facilities in hubs and BCPs.  I hope to be in a position to announce details of this scheme shortly.

Photo of Patricia RyanPatricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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986. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of the interdepartmental group set up within her Department to examine the remote working hubs and co-working spaces; when the group is due to report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5454/21]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Remote, or connected working has the potential to transform rural Ireland, allowing people to continue to live in their communities while building careers in good quality jobs.  Remote working also provides an opportunity for others to move to, or return to, rural areas to work and raise their families, and we are increasingly seeing people making this choice since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government recognises that remote working will form part of how many organisations operate into the future.  That is why the Government recently published a National Remote Work Strategy, to provide a framework in which remote working can be supported in a cohesive way.

One of the pillars of the Remote Work Strategy is to develop and leverage remote work infrastructure across the country.  As part of this objective, a Working Group chaired by the Secretary General of my Department was established last October to oversee the development of a National Hub Network.  The first phase of this Group’s work is to identify, map, survey and classify the various remote working facilities available throughout the country.  

This work, which is currently under way, will lead to the establishment of an integrated network of remote working facilities with shared back-office services for the hubs and a common booking engine for users.  This will become a significant knowledge asset to inform future investment in remote working facilities.

I expect to be in a position to outline the results of Group's work over the course of the year as various elements of the Working Group's programme are completed.

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