Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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774. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of remote working hubs built in Ireland as of November 2021 by county; and the number of remote working hubs to be built by 2025 by county. [58815/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Our Rural Future, Ireland’s Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, recognises the opportunity for rural rejuvenation that remote working presents and commits to establishing a comprehensive and integrated network of 400 remote working hubs over the lifetime of the policy to 2025.

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. For example, the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund and the Town and Village Renewal Scheme both support the establishment of 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.

My Department also supports the development of the Connected Hubs Network (www.connectedhubs.ie). The connectedhubs.ie platform offers a suite of booking, hub management and e-commerce applications to members of the Network. The Network will also facilitate the sharing of innovation, experience and best practices across the community. These supports will serve to maximise benefit to member hubs, hub clients, employers, local communities and the wider economy. There are currently 170 hubs live on the platform, with this number growing every month. Table 1 provides the number of remote working hubs onboarded onto the platform to date by county, together with remote working hubs that have been mapped to be invited to join the National Connected Hubs Network.

Earlier this year I awarded almost €9 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.

The development of a national hubs network is a key commitment in Our Rural Future and I am committed to continuing my Department's support for the development of remote working hubs in recognition of the vital role that they can play in our post-Covid recovery. Officials in my Department will continue to consider options to support the development of remote working hubs over the coming years.

TABLE 1 – Connectedhubs.ie - Remote Working Hubs by County (as at 26 November 2021)