Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2021
53. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if the connected hubs network to provide remote or hybrid work arrangements for employees is available to businesses of different sizes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60193/21]
View answerI congratulate the Government and Minister on this initiative. I suggest we have to scale this up even further to target larger employers who might employ hundreds of people, many of whom travel for many hours every day to cities and so forth when they could work in their own towns. We have, as has been mentioned, community centres and old buildings being repurposed. We need more than that. We need to think big and look at centres that house 100 people or more.
I thank the Deputy for raising this. Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025 recognises the opportunity for rural rejuvenation that remote working presents and commits to establishing a comprehensive and integrated network of remote working hubs over the lifetime of the policy to 2025.
In May I launched the national connected hubs network, together with the connected hubs platform. The platform offers a suite of booking and hub management applications to members of the network. The national hub network working group, led by my Department, has so far identified and mapped over 460 remote working hubs across the country, of which 170 are live on the platform, with this number growing every week. The national hub network includes a diverse range of hubs, services and facilities, thus facilitating companies of different sizes.
To date our focus has been to develop a critical mass of hubs on the connectedhubs.ie platform. The focus will now shift to raising awareness of the network among the relevant stakeholders, including SMEs, business owners and hub users. Work is also ongoing to consult with hub managers across the country in developing the future strategic direction of the network. A significant number of initiatives will be developed through the network, including supporting collective engagement between connected hubs and large-scale employers and between connected hubs and Government agencies and supporting collaborative projects in the network to drive economies of scale. 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 a comprehensive and integrated network of remote working hubs in recognition of the vital role they can play in our post-Covid recovery.
If there is need for a particular type of hub for a particular type of business, we can accommodate it.
I thank the Minister for her response. I particularly thank her for recognising the need of large-scale employers and the workers in those operations. Has a national survey been undertaken with respect to the need for hubs across the country? Are there areas where there are no hubs? Has the Minister consulted with her colleague, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, with regard to third-level outreach? Does she agree that it is possible for universities and technological universities to outreach into towns and villages rather than have students travelling every day into those centres?
If large-scale buildings are needed, is there a way of providing comfort to individuals who might wish to put such facilities in place, which will need large investment as well?
On large-scale building need, under the connected hubs fund we have been able to support some private operators to kit out such facilities to accommodate remote working. It is important that we look at this from the different approaches. Many local authorities have made applications for funding under the town and village renewal scheme and the rural regeneration and development fund for the conversion of old buildings. There are many examples of them throughout the country. I have visited a number of them, where there are top-class remote working facilities. The private sector has come in there as well in terms of provision.
The Deputy mentioned third-level outreach. Students experiencing poor broadband in their homes have been able to use the broadband connection points. We are keen to expand this to community halls in different parts of the country where broadband service is poor. Broadband is available in our libraries as well, which some students have availed of. That is a good way to combine it as well. We are unlimited in what we can do to facilitate people to work and study in rural Ireland.
I thank the Minister for her approach and I encourage her to keep it up and to, maybe, ensure a whole-of-government approach in this area. A number of Departments can contribute to this. I welcome her remarks with regard to students. Can we go beyond facilitating students to link up to lectures and so forth and allow for research and development to take place? Collaboration, innovation and so forth can occur in such hubs if they are of a scale that can facilitate such movement.
We have funded enterprise centres throughout the country as well. For some parts, there may be a research and development element. It is a matter for particular areas as to whether they want to go down that road. The regional enterprise development fund has supported a number of centres that could facilitate research and development. There is another area we can capitalise on, namely, ehealth. As the Deputy and I know, many people will wait some time for a hospital appointment with a consultant and when they get to that appointment the consultant might not even lift a stethoscope or examine them; he or she will just look at them and talk to them. There is no reason those same people cannot attend an ehealth hub within their community for such an appointment. I visited such a hub in Scotstown, County Monaghan two weeks ago. Everything is in place such that the doctor can engage remotely with the patient and decide at that point whether there is need for an in-person appointment. Much of that consultation is a conversation. There is no reason we cannot do that remotely as well.
