Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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45. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if remote working hubs could be provided in rural areas. [9254/23]

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 National Hub Network and its 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 310 enterprise 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. The attached table provides a breakdown of the 310 hubs by county (includes hubs that have been mapped and identified to potentially join the National Hub Network).

Significant funding has been invested by my department towards the establishment and development of enterprise and co-working hubs 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 digital hubs.

The Deputy will appreciate that following the launch of Our Rural Future, the immediate priority was on establishing the National Hub Network, putting the necessary infrastructure in place and achieving this initial critical mass.

Following strong progress on the establishment phase of the project, my focus has now shifted to the next stage of development.

In June, I launched the Connected Hubs Voucher Scheme, designed to encourage those who had never used a hub to do so. The Scheme also supported those that were considering spending more time each week using a hub, rather than working from home. This scheme concluded in early 2023.

My officials have also for some time 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.

TABLE 1 – Connectedhubs.ie - Remote Working Hubs by County (as of the 20^thof February 2023)