Government's rural plan seeks to exploit shift in workplace habits

It is far removed from Eamon de Valera’s vision of rural Ireland. The modern version of dancing at the crossroads is of 400 high-speed broadband hubs scattered across the State, with country pubs moonlighting as new-age offices.

Four of the State’s most senior politicians launched Our Rural Future in Croke Park (where else?) on Monday. The five-year rural development plan is the handiwork of Minister for Social Protection and Rural Development Heather Humphreys, who was building on the work of her predecessor Michael Ring.

The plan runs to 120 pages, with 150 different actions to revive rural Ireland.

It seeks to exploit a massive shift in workplace habits currently taking place – the move towards working from home or using flexible work spaces located a short commute away.

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There are plans for 400 high-speed working hubs around the country, facsimiles of Ludgate in Skibbereen, or The Hive in Carrick-on-Shannon, or the Porter Shed in Galway.

The Government has set a target of 20 per cent of the public service working remotely. It will also draft a new law to give people the right to request to work from home.

Having pubs multi-task as community hubs or centres during the day is an original – and welcome – idea, but it’s unlikely that all pubs will be suitable for that kind of conversion.

Like a lot of strategies this is an amalgam of already-existing policies with a handful of new innovations. Targets and costings are not evident throughout the document. There are a few, however, and they are worth noting.

Investments

The IDA will target half of its investments in regional locations. A significant portion of the Rural Renewal Fund, which amounts to an impressive €1 billion during its lifetime, will be used for a “town centre first” approach in rural Ireland.

The intention behind this is to try to attract retail and commercial premises to the centre of towns rather than to the outskirts. It is also to get new homes built close to the main street in the hope of avoiding one-off houses and ribbon development.

When it comes to this policy area there is no clear target on what constitutes success. The Government simply says it wants to maximise the number of people and families who live outside the big cities. No figure is attached to that.

A survey carried out by NUI Galway last year suggested 7 per cent of remote workers had already made the move from cities to rural Ireland. The Western Development Commission is of the view that more than 12 per cent of those working from home or remotely will eventually make that move from city to country.

There will be tax incentives and grants for people who wish to relocate. Humphreys referred to Georgia in the US offering grants of $2,000 to people to relocate there from Silicon Valley.

There are some welcome ideas on green tourism – everything from greenways to adventure sports – and the potential for the greening of agriculture and better land use.

Nationwide network

Everything will, of course, rely on a nationwide network of super-fast broadband. If it’s not there, the plan will not work.

Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan said on Monday that 70,000 rural homes will be connected by the end of the year under the National Broadband Plan.

However, full rollout is due to take seven years in total, so for those at the back of the queue, in outlying areas, setting up an office from home will not be an option for some time yet.