578. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the cumulative funding provided under the connected hubs scheme, in each county from 2020 to date in 2024, in tabular form. [37911/24]

Our Rural Future recognises the opportunity that remote working presents for rural rejuvenation and commits to establishing a comprehensive and integrated national network of 400 remote working hubs by 2025. It provides an opportunity for people to continue to live in rural communities while following their career ambitions, supporting the retention of skilled people in rural communities and attracting mobile talent to rural areas. It can reduce commuting time, lowering transport emissions, provide a better work-life balance and an improved quality of life.

Substantial funding has been invested by my Department in the development of remote working facilities through a variety of programmes including funding for the conversion of many vacant and derelict buildings into remote working hubs.

In 2021, I launched connectedhubs.ie, a shared online booking and payments platform for remote working hubs and their users. There are currently 366 facilities across the country on-boarded to the platform. An interactive map that shows the location and details of each remote working hub in Ireland is available on connectedhubs.ie.

The Connected Hubs call in 2021 and 2022, awarded approximately €14 million to almost 200 projects enabling successful applicants to add additional capacity to existing remote working infrastructure in digital hubs and Broadband Connection Points (BCP) throughout the country (Table 1 attached).

I am committed to ensuring that the Connected Hubs Network will continue to make a central contribution to the achievement of the Government's vision for rural Ireland, as set out in Our Rural Future.

Hubs Funding