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Remote Working

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 January 2021

Wednesday, 27 January 2021

Questions (931)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

931. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of remote working hubs in Ireland; the number that receive State funding; the number of persons that have been working in these hubs in each of the past five years; and the level of investment that has been made into these hubs by the State in each of the past five years. [4455/21]

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Written answers

The increased shift to remote working as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic has given us the opportunity for a greater regional distribution of jobs and to support a better quality of life for many people who previously spent many hours in long commutes.

In particular, remote working has the potential to transform rural Ireland, allowing people to build careers in good quality jobs while continuing to live closer to home, or for those that moved away to return to rural Ireland to raise their families.

There is currently no existing dataset which identifies all remote working hubs in Ireland, the number of people working in them, or the funding that they have received. The National Remote Work Strategy, which was published recently by the Government, acknowledges the lack of data currently available on remote working and commits to developing data on the incidence and frequency of remote work in Ireland.

Separately, a Working Group chaired by the Secretary General of my Department was established last October to oversee the development of a National Hub Network. The first phase of this Group’s work is to identify, map, survey and classify the various remote working facilities throughout the country. This exercise will also help to identify those hubs that have received State funding.

This work, which is currently under way, will lead to the establishment of an integrated network of remote working facilities with shared back-office services, and will provide a significant knowledge asset that can inform future investment in remote working facilities. I expect to be in a position to outline the results of this work over the course of the year.

A number of Government Departments and agencies have provided investment for the development of remote working facilities over the last number of year. My own Department has invested over €50 million in these facilities since 2016 through the Town and Village Renewal Scheme and the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund.

A further €5 million has been allocated to the Town and Village Renewal Scheme this year to support the development of remote working infrastructure throughout the country. I hope to be in a position to announce details of this funding stream shortly.

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