Irish pubs could become work hubs in post-pandemic plan

Irish pubs could be turned into remote working hubs under a post-pandemic plan to give rural villages a new lease on life.

The Irish government scheme is part of a five year rural development policy, released on Monday.

Under the plan, a fifth of public servants would shift to remote or home working by the end of the year.

The government says it is an invitation to remote workers to live in rural Ireland.

It will also introduce legislation this year to give employees the right to request to work remotely.

The Irish government's Our Rural Future strategy proposes a national network of 400 remote working hubs, including ones specifically for the public sector.

It is the first European country to come up with such a plan.

Rural and Community Development Minister Heather Humphreys said it was "the most ambitious and transformational policy for rural Ireland in decades".

"As we emerge from Covid-19, the new policy is about maximising a recovery for all parts of the country and giving a better quality of life to people who live and work in rural areas."

Concern about the pre-eminence of Dublin and the need for decentralisation of civil service jobs is a perennial theme in Irish political discourse.

A previous attempt to move government departments outside of the capital was a failure.

Civil servants who had bought homes and had children at school in the city were very reluctant to sell-up to move to areas where they may have had no connections.

But this time the government is hoping it will be different because the focus will be more on individuals than on civil service departments.

And the pandemic experience of working from home has proved there is such an appetite.

But to work broadband speeds in rural areas will need to improve from all too often very slow to superfast - just one of the many challenges the government faces as it looks to a future beyond the pandemic.

The report commits to "explore the potential to develop a pilot scheme to support the use of rural pubs as community spaces and hubs for local services".

The minister likened it to the UK's "the hub in the pub" concept.

"We are teasing out how, maybe, pubs can be used for different purposes during the day," she said.

"It could be working spaces. It could be community spaces. It could be many different things and we can look at having high-speed broadband there."

Cork South West TD (Irish MP) Michael Collins said such a plan would need high-speed, reliable broadband - which his constituents did not always have, Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported.

As part of the new strategy, the government has proposed investing up to €2.7bn (£2.3bn) in the roll-out of the national broadband plan.

"There are huge issues. Many people have come back from the cities to work in rural communities and the broadband is shocking.

"I have hundreds and hundreds of people in west Cork pulling their hair out of their heads because they can't get broadband in their homes."

Northern Ireland's civil service is currently developing an "enduring" remote-working policy with trade unions.

In February, the Department of Finance announced 10 regional hubs for public sector workers.

The Cross Border Workers Coalition welcomed the commitment of ministers "north and south" to remote working.

However "restrictive" cross border tax rules continued to leave rural communities behind, the organisation's co-chair Aidan O'Kane said.

"Under current legislation, cross border workers who live in the Republic of Ireland and work for an Northern Ireland-based company can face a 'double tax' on their income if they work remotely.

"Employees should be able to live in towns across the island regardless of where their job is based."

The Irish government has included a tax review for remote workers and employers as part of its strategy.