County councillors may not be the first group that comes to mind as being at the leading edge of technology.

But in Meath County Council they are among the vanguard of users adopting flexible working technologies.

The council has implemented Citrix's Access Gateway product to give staff and councillors not based at County Hall in Navan access to many of the same computing resources.

The scheme is still being piloted, however it is available to senior management and elected representatives.

A small piece of software is loaded on the users' PC which enables them to access the office systems through a web browser interface.

Applications available remotely include e-mail, Microsoft Office suite, the council planning system, electoral register and the members' administration system.

Far from opening a potential security hole in the local authority's infrastructure, John Lawlor, head of information systems with the council, believes security has been enhanced.

The practice has already helped with employee retention, the council claims. One staff member who had a job offer elsewhere came to Lawlor to find out if the teleworking pilot was going to continue. When he found out it was, he decided to stay.

Next in line the project may possibly be extended to Meath's TDs and Senators.