Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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237. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if consideration will be given to the provision of additional rural working hubs in each rural town and village to enable remote workers to access social and technical facilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49967/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Our Rural Future, Ireland’s Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, recognises the opportunity which remote working presents and also the potential of remote working hubs as key economic assets for our rural towns and villages. Accordingly, my Department operates a number of funding schemes that focus on projects supporting remote working and that add to the remote working infrastructure in every region.

The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund and the Town and Village Renewal Scheme both support the establishment of new digital hubs. Under this year's schemes, projects that bring vacant properties in town centres back into use as remote working hubs were eligible to apply for funding. Projects that repurpose existing community or publicly owned buildings in town or village centres to facilitate remote working were also eligible.

Earlier this year I awarded €8.8 million in funding through the Connected Hubs stream to add capacity to existing remote working infrastructure in digital hubs and broadband connection points throughout the country.

Officials in my Department will continue to consider options to support the development of remote working hubs over the coming years. Details of calls for applications to relevant funding streams will be announced by my Department in due course.

My Department also supports the development of the Connected Hubs Network (www.connectedhubs.ie). There are currently 146 hubs live on the platform, with this number growing every month. A connected hubs app has also been developed which will be launched in the coming weeks.