Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
44. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an update on the remote working strategy implementation; if his attention has been drawn to initiatives such as remote hubs in Sneem, County Kerry; his views on the potential of further similar hubs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40678/21]
View answerMy Department is driving the implementation of the National Remote Work Strategy. Published on January 15th, 2021, the Strategy aims to ensure that remote work is a permanent feature in the Irish workplace the maximises economic, social and environmental benefits.
The Strategy contains 15 actions to progress remote work into the future. Each action has been attributed actors for its delivery and a deadline of Q1, 3, or 4 of this year. Lead actors report progress on the actions to the Interdepartmental Group (IDG) on Remote Work. This IDG has met twice to date this year. At these meetings it was established that good progress is underway to achieving the actions by their deadlines. The IDG will meet again in September to further drive the implementation of the Strategy.
There is a strong focus on hubs under Pillar 2 of the Strategy. Actions under this Pillar include investing and mapping in the national hub infrastructure. DRCD lead the National Hub Network. On July 22nd, they announced €8.8 million in funding for 117 projects across Ireland as part of the Connected Hubs Call. This investment will support the ongoing development of ConnectedHubs.ie, which already has 113 hubs using the platform and 408 hubs mapped nationally.
Furthermore, the number of hubs identified through the Western Development Commission's hub discovery process has increased to 505. These are in the process of being verified before they are mapped on connectedhubs.ie/nationalhubsmap.html. This interactive map provides useful information in relation to each of the hubs and the services that are available at each site.
