Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2023
1446. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if there will be future calls to establishment remote working hubs in rural towns and village or community centres; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47354/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraOur Rural Future, Ireland’s Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, recognises the opportunity for rural rejuvenation that remote working presents. The policy commits to establishing a comprehensive and integrated national network of 400 remote working hubs by 2025. The network includes a diverse range of hubs, services and facilities, facilitating individual remote workers and companies of different sizes.
In 2021, I launched connectedhubs.ie, a shared online booking and payments platform for member hubs and their users. There are currently 330 remote and co-working facilities across the country on-boarded to the platform, meaning we are well on track to achieving our target of 400 hubs by 2025. An interactive map is available on connectedhubs.ie that shows the location and details of each remote working hub on the network. In addition to facilitating online bookings and payments, connectedhubs.ie is also a platform for collecting and disseminating information, including the types of hubs available in Ireland.
To date my department has also invested over €150 million to support the establishment, improvement and sustainability of hubs through the range of schemes which make up my Department's Rural Development Investment Programme. This includes an allocation of €14 million in funding to almost 200 projects via the Connected Hub Calls, which allowed for additional remote working capacity to be added to digital hubs and Public Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) throughout the country. The development of remote working hubs continue to be eligible for funding under schemes such as the Town and Village renewal scheme and the forthcoming call for applications under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund where a clearly identified need is established in the context of the significant level of investment to date.
Following the publication of Our Rural Future , my priority has been 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 our focus has shifted to the next stage of development. To this end my Department is currently leading on the formulation of a National Hub Strategy to chart the future strategic direction of the hubs sector. Key to this approach is close consultation with stakeholders and our partners across government which will contribute to future decisions pertaining to the support that my Department will provide to the sector in future.
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.
