Fine Gael building stronger, safer communities with connected hubs nationwide

Fine Gael representatives are holding a meeting today with Ministers, TDs and Senators joining from 32 connected hubs throughout the country, including on an island off the West coast.

This will be the first time a single meeting will be conducted virtually using the hubs, which were established last year during the pandemic.

This initiative is part of Fine Gael’s Stronger, Safer Communities campaign. The campaign aims to highlight the party’s commitment to ensuring our towns, villages, and cities are great places to live, work, run a business, raise a family, and grow old, and ensure that they are stronger and safer than ever before.

This meeting showcases the acceleration that has been seen in connectivity across the country and demonstrates that remote working is now a viable option for every county, including those living off the coast. Fine Gael PP members connected from hubs in their constituency or at a location suited to their work engagements today.

The party is determined to ensure balanced regional development across the country and an important element of that is making remote working an option for more people.. The drive to encourage remote working will help revitalise towns and villages and it supports Fine Gael’s ambition to build stronger safer communities nationwide.

Fine Gael Leader and Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar, joined today’s meeting from Webmill Digital Hub, Beale Centre, Mountmellick, Co Laois, accompanied by Laois-Offaly TD Charlie Flanagan.

The Tánaiste said: “It’s fantastic to be here with Deputy Flanagan to once again see the benefits of a local hub at first hand. If there’s one thing we learned from the pandemic, it’s that we can’t go back to the old ways of working. We want to see more remote working, more home working, more hybrid working. And these hubs make it possible even in areas which are not currently serviced by the National Broadband Plan.

“Record levels of funding have been provided to support community hubs. Remote working helps to sustain and strengthen our communities.It’s good for quality of life and family life, and it’s also good for the environment by cutting down on commuting. Hubs like this are at the heart of Fine Gael’s plans to build stronger, safer communities.”

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys joined this afternoon’s meeting from The Yard Workspace in Newcastle West, Limerick, along with local Minister of State at the Office of Public Works, Patrick O’Donovan.

Minister Humphreys said: “I’m delighted to visit the Yard Workspace today with Minister O’Donovan and to sample an environment where workers are encouraged to thrive and perform to the best of their abilities, while having the flexibility of staying and spending more time in their local areas.

“I have visited hubs the length and breadth of the country and one thing is clear: They are essential in making remote working a reality for tens of thousands of our citizens.

“My Department has invested millions of euro in funding in the establishment of new remote working hub facilities and has launched the ‘Connected Hubs’ initiative, which allows people to book their hotdesk space at a click of a button via a new mobile app.

“This is all about giving people a better quality of life. It’s about moving away from the days of people sitting for hours on end in traffic jams, or standing like sardines on the Luas, DART, bus or train.

“Above all, it’s about creating an environment where people can work in their local hub in their own town and village. It’s about attracting people back to rural Ireland, boosting our local economies and ensuring remote working is part of our rural future.”

Mayo Senator Paddy Burke is in Clare Island Community Centre to join the meeting.

Senator Burke said: “It’s great to be here at Clare Island Community Centre with the Atlantic Ocean providing a stunning backdrop to this co-working space, with all necessary equipment at hand for a positive and productive working day. It’s also great for visitors and tourists who can use the hub and take a working break from Clare Island.

“Hubs and remote working are now a permanent fixture in many people’s lives and I hope we will see many more of these facilities pop up throughout Mayo and across the country.”