Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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473. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the estimated cost of developing the 400 remote working hubs and the requisite support services identified in Our Rural Future and for additional remote working hubs in each of the 31 local authority areas across the country in 2024. [23752/23]

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 the shared online booking platform connectedhubs.ie, adding capacity to Ireland's existing remote working infrastructure, and supporting the establishment of new hubs. Connectedhubs.ie was launched in May 2021.

To date, approximately €150m 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.

This investment includes €14 million to almost 200 projects via the Connected Hubs fund between 2021 and 2022, enabling successful applicants to add additional capacity to existing remote working infrastructure in digital hubs and Broadband Connection Points throughout the country. For example Galway County Council received approximately €230,000 via the Connected Hubs 2021 call to further develop eight BCP facilities throughout their county. Under the 2022 Connected Hubs fund, Galway City Innovation District / The PorterShed received €75,000 in funding.

The connectedhubs.ie platform offers a suite of booking and hub management applications to members of the Network. There are currently 318 remote and co-working facilities across the country on-boarded to the connectedhubs.ie platform ands almost 12,00 registered customers. 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 318 hubs by county (including hubs that have been mapped and identified to join the network).

In addition, I have committed to funding the on-boarding and operational costs of the connectedhubs.ie platform for hubs across the country for the next 2 years. This is expected to cost in the region of €2.2m.

Following strong progress on the establishment phase of the project our focus has shifted to the next stage of development. To support the continued expansion of the network, in February 2022 I provided the Western Development Commission with additional funding of €250,000 to develop connnectedhubs.ie as a national brand. This money also funded a national promotional campaign which was launched in February 2022 to raise awareness of the Connected Hubs network to relevant stakeholders, including SMEs/business owners and new hub users.

In June 2022, I launched the Connected Hubs Voucher Scheme, designed to encourage those who have 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. As at Quarter 1 of 2023, the cost of vouchers, claimed directly by participating hubs was approximately €85,000. Since the launch of the Voucher Scheme, the number of customers registered with connectedhubs.ie has risen by some 550%.

Through the work of the Interdepartmental Steering Group for the National Hub Network, officials are now working on a new strategy for the development of the network. This strategy will, inter alia, examine the most appropriate and effective approach to funding for the hub network in the coming years to ensure that value for money continues to be delivered.

TABLE 1 – Connectedhubs.ie - Remote Working Hubs by County

(as of the 15th of May 2023)