Senator Malcolm Byrne has welcomed the government’s new strategy “Our Rural Future”, published this afternoon, as a means of supporting both rural development as well as remote working and said that “this could revitalise rural villages and communities across Co. Wexford.”

There were significant funding announcements this afternoon. 

Malcolm has spoken often in the Seanad about how technology and remote working could help with regional development and stated that Wexford could really benefit from the measures outlined in the plan. 

Key actions around remote working which will be delivered through Our Rural Future include:

·         Establish a network of over 400 remote working hubs nationwide, to enable more people to live and work in rural communities. 

·         Pilot co-working and hot desking hubs for public servants in regional towns.

•        Establishing a Rural Youth Assembly- to highlight the concerns of young people, a particular initiative of Malcolm Byrne 

·         Move to 20% remote working in the public sector in 2021, with further annual increase over the next 5 years. 

·         IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta to promote and enable the uptake of remote working across their client base. 

·         Fund the repurposing of vacant buildings in town centres into remote working hubs. 

·         Review the tax arrangements for remote working for both employers and employees as part of Budget 2022.

·         Introduce legislation in 2021 to provide employees with the right to request remote work. 

·         Provide funding to Local Authorities to run targeted campaigns to attract remote workers to their area.

·         Examine the introduction of specific incentives to attract remote workers and mobile talent to live in rural towns.