Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
78. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the progress made on the intention stated in the programme for Government to enable increased hub working nationally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21101/20]
View answerOn 12 August 2020, I launched a new €12 million Enterprise Centre Fund, which will be administered by Enterprise Ireland, to help enterprise centres impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The closing date for applications is noon on Wednesday September 30, 2020. The objective of the Powering the Regions – Enterprise Centres Fund is to provide financial support to eligible enterprise centres who have been impacted by COVID-19 for the implementation of a 6 to 12-month Recovery Plan. This plan should have the objective of strengthening the underlying viability of the centre to enable it to continue to deliver value added supports to their client companies.
These facilities provide affordable physical workspace for businesses across the country and deliver training and soft supports to their tenants and also other companies in their locality and regional area. As such, these facilities are key infrastructures in the ecosystem for supporting entrepreneurship and start-ups and remote working.
To date, the Government have invested significantly in the development of remote working and co-working centres/spaces in every region in Ireland through the three calls of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund and Border Enterprise Development Fund. The total funding committed to the full range of projects amounts to €117 million to support 79 projects in total.
Many of these projects will lead to additional co-working spaces in every region as they are progressed and completed. Based on Enterprise Ireland’s analysis, approximately 3,200 co-working/incubation spaces are being developed across 45 of the projects supported under Regional Enterprise Development Fund and Border Enterprise Development Fund.
