A Government plan to boost economies in rural Ireland involves allowing Public Servants to continue working remotely after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
Minister for Rural Development, Heather Humphreys (pictured) announced a ‘worker-led’ decentralisation plan that would provide for work practices brought about by the pandemic to continue into the indefinite future.
The strategy, initially for five years, included consideration of incentives to attract remote workers to rural areas, proposals for revitalising town centres, and efforts to make Ireland a leading destination for adventure tourism.
It is understood that the plan has a target of 20 per cent of the public sector working either remotely, or ‘blended’ between the office and home, by the end of 2021.
There would also be increased targets for each of the next five years.
There is to be a focus on using the rollout of high-speed broadband to rural areas to develop opportunities in areas such as e-health, remote learning and online trading.
The Our Rural Future plan announced by Ms Humphreys and Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Micheál Martin is to be backed by funding in the Government’s forthcoming and updated National Development Plan.
“This is modern-day, worker-led decentralisation — not focused on buildings, but on people,” Ms Humphreys said.
“Remote and blended working is all about giving people choices so that they can have good career opportunities while also living in their own local community,” she said.
Other proposals include the establishment of more than 400 remote working hubs nationwide, where it is envisaged people will begin to be able to book desk space once the pandemic is over.
Vacant buildings are to be targeted for use as hubs; a source pointed to Bank of Ireland branches as being possible locations, some are expected to lie empty as the bank scales back its presence in rural towns.
A decentralisation plan pursued by the former Fianna Fáil-led Government from 2003 onwards involved moving Government Departments and Agencies out of Dublin.
Targets for moving staff out of the capital were not met by the time the program was cancelled by the Fine Gael-Labour Government in 2011.
There is also to be a review of tax arrangements for remote working for both employers and employees ahead of the Budget, as previously flagged by Minister for Enterprise, Leo Varadkar.
Dublin, 30 March 2021
