Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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992. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for an update on the Programme for Government’s commitment to expand the remit of connected hubs to create new opportunities in rural communities; if he will consider extending this remit to include suburban villages in the Dublin metropolitan area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31895/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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A key focus of Our Rural Future - the Government's Rural Development Policy 2021 to 2025 - is to optimise digital connectivity to support vibrant, sustainable rural communities, ensuring equality of access to digital services. Our Rural Future committed to the establishment of a network of 400 remote working hubs across the country over the lifetime of the policy. Connectedhubs.ie was launched in mid 2021, and there are now 383 hubs live on the network.

The Connected Hubs initiative, which was originally developed to identify and connect a network of existing rural remote working hubs along the Atlantic Seaboard between Kerry and Donegal has been extended to a national project and now encompasses remote working hubs in both urban and rural areas. The connectedhubs.ie platform includes 55 hubs within the Dublin Metropolitan Area.

This commitment to remote working hubs is reinforced in the Programme for Government 2025 - Securing Ireland's Future to increase the number of Connected Hubs and users, broadening the services provided for entrepreneurs, start-ups, FDI and social enterprises.

A number of initiatives have already been developed through Connected Hubs that benefit the wider community such as 'Learning in the Hubs' in collaboration with the Technological University of the Shannon bringing third-level education programmes to communities across Ireland, enabling adult learners to undertake part-time courses in local Connected Hubs with state-of-the-art facilities.

A new National Hubs Strategy, is currently being finalised and will be published later this year. It will present a coherent approach to the future development of remote working and enterprise hubs including the development of new opportunities for communities across the hub network. The strategy is being developed in consultation with hub managers, local authorities, communities and other stakeholders.