The Government’s new rural development plan, announced last week, will include a major focus on attracting remote workers to rural communities, with a significant portion of the plan focused on public sector workers.

Our Rural Future is described as a blueprint to transform rural Ireland over the next five years. The plan is designed to revitalise town centres, boosting rural jobs through adventure tourism, the ‘green’ economy and island development.

On remote working, Our Rural Future includes plans to move to 20% remote working in the public sector this year, with further annual increases over the next five years. It promises the introduction of legislation to give employees the right to request remote work.

There are also commitments to review the tax arrangements for remote working, for both employers and employees, as part of Budget 2022, and to provide funding to local authorities to run targeted campaigns to attract remote workers to their area.

Fórsa’s head of civil service, Derek Mullen, said the plan did not lack ambition, but would need to ensure appropriate consultation with worker representatives to be successful.

“Fórsa members throughout the country have worked very hard over the past year, adapting to significantly new ways of working, and have achieved high levels of quality service delivery, despite the emergency conditions under which those changes took place.

“For some workers, a return to normality includes a return to their usual work environment, with greater levels of collaboration and social contact.

"Many have also been able to find ways of working more conducive to striking a healthy balance between work and home life with the elimination of lengthy commutes, and many can now see the potential benefits of a hybrid model of working.

“However, it is important that flexibility and choice on the part of employees is central to the implementation of this plan. In that context, we need to have dialogue, so that the workers who’ve risen to these huge recent challenges are represented,” he said.

Hubs

The plan includes the establishment of a network of 400 remote working rural ‘hubs’, including some located in repurposed vacant buildings in town centres. These hubs will enable more people to live and work in rural communities, and Our Rural Future includes a pilot for co-working and hot-desking hubs for public servants in regional towns.

The plan also commits to examining the introduction of specific incentives to attract remote workers and mobile talent to live in rural towns, while the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta are to promote and enable the uptake of remote working across their client base.

Announcing the launch of the plan, the Government’s statement said it aims to facilitate more working in rural Ireland “with good career prospects, regardless of where their employer is headquartered”, with rural towns as vibrant hubs for commercial and social activity, and rural communities having an active role in shaping the future for rural Ireland.

Commenting on this aspect of the plan Derek said that the Civil Service-wide Mobility Policy was potentially a good vehicle to attract remote workers to more rural communities.

Investment

Our Rural Future is described as a “whole-of-Government policy for rural Ireland,” reflecting changes in living and working patterns during Covid-19. The Government says the new plan is designed to help rural Ireland to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, enabling the long-term development of rural areas, and creating “more resilient rural economies and communities for the future.”

The plan is to be underpinned by investment in high-speed broadband, remote working facilities, job creation, town centre regeneration, community development, improvements in regional and local roads, new cycling and walking infrastructure, expanded rural transport services, funding for tourism, culture and heritage projects, and a just transition to a climate-neutral society.