Aindrias Moynihan
Question:52. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the position on advancing remote working hubs across County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60198/21]
View answerTuesday, 7 December 2021
Questions (52, 63, 78)
Brian Leddin
Question:63. Deputy Brian Leddin asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development her plans to examine the potential to introduce specific incentives to encourage remote workers to relocate to rural towns as outlined in Our Rural Future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60220/21]
View answer
Alan Dillon
Question:78. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the way her Department is supporting the repurposing of landmark buildings in town and village centres for providing new services such as remote working or innovation hubs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60224/21]
View answerOral answers (10 contributions)
Working from home and remotely is a big part of Our Rural Future and the broadband plan is not rolling out half fast enough for people. Indeed, the hubs could be a real opportunity for people and there is the opportunity of not being isolated in one's home and working in a more social environment. Can the Minister outline the plan for rolling out these hubs? How quickly can they be done and what supports are available to private operators to do so, as well as community groups that want to take part?
I thank the Deputies for raising this matter and I propose to take Questions Nos. 52, 63 and 78 together.
My Department continues to support the development of remote working hubs throughout the country. Our Rural Future commits to investing significantly in remote working facilities and to examining the potential to introduce specific incentives to encourage remote workers to relocate to rural areas, as part of budget 2022. I have instructed my officials to examine options for such an incentive mechanism, building on the connected hubs network, in particular. It is critical this is done in the right and responsible way and a number of approaches are currently under consideration.
To date, more than €83 million has been provided by my Department, through various funding streams, to support the development of digital hubs and remote working facilities. The rural regeneration and development fund and the town and village renewal scheme both support the establishment of digital hubs. Under this year's schemes, projects that bring vacant properties in town centres back into use as remote working hubs or repurposed existing community or publicly owned buildings in town and village centres to facilitate remote working were eligible for funding.
My Department also supports the development of the connected hubs network, found at connectedhubs.ie. Some 170 hubs are live on the platform, with this number growing every week. Earlier this year, I also awarded almost €9 million in funding through the connected hubs funding stream to further support hubs throughout the country. The development of a national hubs network is a key commitment in Our Rural Future and I am committed to continuing my Department's support for the development of remote working hubs, in recognition of the vital role they can play in our post-Covid recovery.
I absolutely believe in remote working or, connected working, as I prefer to call it. It is a game changer for rural Ireland. Before the pandemic, remote working was just a concept or an aspiration. Now, because of Covid, it is an everyday working reality for thousands of workers. I want to support people who want to live and work in their own community. Obviously, the public health advice is again that if one can work from home, one should.
However, there are huge opportunities here for regional development. Many major multinational companies have told their staff they can work remotely for the long term and that is very positive. I know there is one multinational in the Deputy's county of Cork. A huge part of its workforce is working remotely and that is part of its policy. That is the way forward and we in the Department want to support this.
There are many benefits, across the board, to remote working. We know them all. People live and work in their locality. It enables young people to avail of cheaper house prices in the country and less time spent commuting, which is also good for the environment. The reality is if one is an office worker and has good phone and broadband coverage, which is guaranteed in these remote working spaces, one can do the same job. I will be a bit parochial here - one can do the same job in Ballybay as in Ballsbridge. We need to seize the momentum around remote working. My Department is investing in the development of remote working hubs through schemes such as the €1 billion rural regeneration and development fund, the town and village renewal scheme and the connected hubs fund.
As the Deputy knows, there are plenty of examples of old buildings in our town centres that can be renovated and used as hubs. There are a number of investments in north-west Cork. There is the gteic i mBéal Átha an Ghaorthaidh, which got €30,000 for the connected hubs funding there. Macroom enterprise centre got €68,000 and that is just to name a couple. Of course, the digital innovation hubs strategy was in the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, for Cork, of €206,000 and in Skibereen, the Ludgate Hub, with which I know Deputy Moynihan is very familiar, got €152,000. We used some of that funding to help kit out their premises, buy furniture and improve their facilities. I am on the same page as the Deputy in that I am absolutely committed to remote working.
I thank the Minister for the overview and details. Remote working will be a big part of the rural future. Having people working locally, rather than having to travel as much, offers a great deal of opportunity to communities. I acknowledge that a number of significant works are under way in our area, such as in Béal Átha an Ghaorthaidh, Coláiste Íosagáin i mBaile Bhuirne, Achadh Bolg, Castletown and Aubane. I will draw the Minister's attention to the fact many community groups are not able to raise their own funding to take on some of the schemes. In some places, it will be a private enterprise in smaller communities. Indeed, there may not even be a public building, beyond the school, in some smaller communities. There should be some way in which those private enterprises would be able to access funding, whether it is the publican or the vacant shop owner on the main street, to make those facilities available for their rural communities. They will not be profit generating, but in many communities, they are the only available buildings and real option. They should be able to access funding, as well. What approaches are under consideration and do the likes of those smaller communities and private operators have an opportunity?
I agree with the Minister in that remote working has the capacity to be game changing. We have seen it during the pandemic. I am thinking of Dungarvan, Lismore and west Waterford, where people had the opportunity to move down. These three questions are complementary. It was interesting to see them grouped. Deputy Ó Muimhneacháin is asking about the roll-out of the technology. Deputy Dillon is asking about the buildings and the physical infrastructure. I am asking about the people. How do we entice people to move down the country or how do we make it easier for them to make that decision? What kinds of nudges can we put in place? Portugal put in place quite an interesting scheme called the work inland programme, where a grant of up to €4,800 was made available to people who wanted to change from the larger cities and move down to work. I wonder whether we have sufficient supports in place for companies, in the same way, to make it available and attractive to them to allow their employees to engage in remote or blended working in order that we see those people we need to see moving down the country.
It is vitally important we protect our landmark buildings in our towns and villages, as they are often an important centrepiece in their communities. It was great to have the Minister in Swinford last May, where she saw, first hand, the remodelling of the old courthouse into the new DigiWest hub.
Many towns and villages in Mayo are working to achieve similar outcomes to what was done in Swinford. In places like Balla, Partry, Bohola, Ballycastle, Ballycroy, Belmullet and Louisburgh we have rural communities who are eager to embark on projects through the town and village renewal scheme to ensure they fully capitalise on giving people the option to remote or co-work in their area. It would be useful if the Minister provided an outline on how communities can access funding for any plans they may have to get more out of these projects coming online as quickly as possible.
There are incentives we are considering to attract remote workers to relocate to rural Ireland. Budget 2022 provides my Department with a funding allocation of €376 million, an increase of €35 million, or 10% on budget 2021, in recognition of the critical role my Department plays in delivering on Our Rural Future. We are considering a number of options, including the use of the connected hubs network, which now includes more than 170 hubs. Research that the Western Development Commission and NUIG have published on remote working in Ireland through the pandemic indicates a significant number of people have already moved to the west. My ambition is that any incentive introduced by my Department creates new reasons to move north, south or west and does not simply reinforce existing mobility drivers.
There is an initiative I am working on with the vintners, namely, the hub in the pub. Covid has left things slower than we hoped but I am working with them on that initiative, which will look at converting pubs during the day to other purposes, such as, if high speed broadband is available, to accommodate remote working.
I want to see a situation where every community has the opportunity of people living and working locally, whether using broadband at home or the community hubs. In some smaller communities, there are no public buildings other than the school. I note what the Minister said about the pub option and repurposing buildings is a very real option because in many communities a shop and a pub might be the only public buildings aside from the school.
On the main streets of towns there are many vacant buildings and they should be an option as well. It would add greatly to our towns and villages. Will the Minister outline that the towns and villages will have the opportunity to access those schemes and do away with the vacancies we see in so many towns and villages?
It is difficult because the Minister is being pulled in three different directions by the questions. As well as giving nudges to workers to move down the country, which is vital, the Irish word that stands out to me is "fite fuaite", which rolls off the tongue better than "policy coherence". We need individual policy actors to work together. If we look to get people into our rural towns and villages, we have quality of life in spades, but we need housing solutions and, as Deputy Ó Muimhneacháin suggested, we need to tackle vacancy in housing. We need place-making, good quality public realm and services, including good schools, good water infrastructure and good public transport options.
The Our Rural Future document goes a long way towards that. I look forward to seeing the town centres first policy document which I know the Department is having input on. We need all these policy objectives to come together to unlock the potential in our rural towns and villages.
I thank the Minister for her response. I know Our Rural Future aims to expand the town and village renewal scheme as a key enabler in bringing vacant and derelict buildings back into multipurpose spaces and for residential use. I raised the issue of dereliction in our towns and villages at a Topical Issues debate with Deputy Stanton, who is in the Chamber.
I note with interest the mention of appointing town regeneration officers, announced as part of budget 2022. It would be useful to have more information on the proposed town regeneration officers and when they are likely to be appointed. Will tackling the scourge of dereliction be part of their role? If so, what resources will be made available to assist them in doing so?
Funding has been provided for town regeneration officers and they will be appointed in due course. They will work with the different stakeholders to have a clear plan on where towns want to go. They will consult with local communities and work with the people in the town. There are many different funding streams so we need joined-up thinking as to what the overall plan is. The town regeneration officers will get the plan and work with different Departments to make sure they maximise it and the right outcome is there in terms of planning. If one does not plan, one is in bother.
We have the €9 million connected hubs funding stream for existing digital hubs and broadband connection points in every region. There are opportunities for private operators to apply for that funding and some of them have done so. The fund is closed at the minute. It has been disbursed but there is more for next year.
To communities I would say to work with the local authorities. That is the best place to go because local authorities have been doing good work in consulting with communities and putting in applications, whether for improvement in the town centre or bringing back derelict buildings for 21st-century use.
Deputy Dillon is right. I was in Swinford and had a great day there. What they have done to convert that old courthouse into a remote working hub is wonderful.