Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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42. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if remote working hubs will be provided in rural areas. [62561/22]

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

In furtherance of this commitment, my Department’s focus to date has been on strategically developing the Connected Hubs ecosystem, the Network's shared online booking platform connectedhubs.ie, adding capacity to Ireland's existing remote working infrastructure, and supporting the establishment of new hubs.

There are currently 298 remote and co-working facilities across the country on-boarded to the connectedhubs.ie platform. This number is growing all the time, meaning we are well on track to meet our target of 400 remote working hubs nationwide by 2025. An interactive map is available on connectedhubs.ie that shows the location and details of each remote working hub on the network.

Significant funding has been invested by my department towards the establishment and development of remote working facilities through programmes such as the Town and Village Renewal Scheme and the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund. Successful projects are developed in collaboration with local authorities and communities, with many projects seeing vacant and derelict buildings in rural towns and villages converted into remote working hubs.

To date my focus has been on establishing the Connected Hub Network and on achieving the initial critical mass. Following strong progress on the establishment phase of the project, my focus has now shifted to the next stage of development. To this end, my officials have been consulting with hub managers across the country, with local authorities and communities, and with other stakeholders, including colleagues from the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, to better inform the future strategic direction of the National Hub Network and the connectedhubs.ie platform.

I am committed to ensuring that the National Hub Network will continue to make a central contribution to the achievement of the Government's vision for rural Ireland, as set out in Our Rural Future.