Rural Development Plan 2021-2025

Pussyhands

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2021/0328/1206651-rural-development-plan/

A Government plan to reinvigorate rural Ireland aims to breathe new life into dying towns and villages by transforming disused derelict buildings and pubs into remote working hubs.

The plan includes a pilot scheme to turn rural pubs into remote working hubs; the provision of public sector hubs in regional towns for public servants to work in their local areas, and a target of 400 IDA investments for region locations to create jobs.

Pussyhands

As someone from a rural area living in a city, none of this will make me go back where there's no ambition and everyone is noseying your business.

KaneToad

The key to making this work is the govt being serious about remote working for public sector workers. I won't be holding my breath.

They expect private enterprise to use innovative methods of remote working but when push comes to shove they want their own staff clocking in & out sitting under the watchful eyes of managers.

mohawk

Pussyhands wrote: »

As someone from a rural area living in a city, none of this will make me go back where there's no ambition and everyone is noseying your business.

I thought that before I left Dublin to move back to the rural village I am from. I will admit the village is 25 minutes drive to a city and several industrial estates so we have plenty of blow ins over last few years. Some never integrate into to community and others do. So I find that yes there are some with no ambition living the same lives they did 20 years ago but many others have careers and families so don’t have time to be noseying in others business.

Now it could be very different living in a rural village that’s far away from jobs and opportunities.

Thelonious Monk

KaneToad wrote: »

The key to making this work is the govt being serious about remote working for public sector workers. I won't be holding my breath.

They expect private enterprise to use innovative methods of remote working but when push comes to shove they want their own staff clocking in & out sitting under the watchful eyes of managers.

I think most public sector workers are working from home at the moment, and it looks like it will be part of government strategy going forward

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/32321-tanaiste-publishes-remote-working-strategy/

So it's likely remote working will become part of the plan in future too.

KaneToad

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I think most public sector workers are working from home at the moment, and it looks like it will be part of government strategy going forward

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/32321-tanaiste-publishes-remote-working-strategy/

So it's likely remote working will become part of the plan in future too.

They talk the talk. But will probably have a scoping report, then a pilot then a negotiation with representative bodies and then a review. Then will decide that one day a week will suffice but that day will be moveable by managers...

Then there will be opt out for certain sections that might deal with information that's deemed sensitive...e.g. Social welfare, Health, justice, education...

I'm very pessimistic about this, I hope I'm wrong. I really think this could be the best thing to ever happen to rural Ireland and balanced national development. But remote worker needs to be more out of office than in office. Otherwise, nothing really will change. Well still have huge suburban sprawls with workers slogging into our cities on a daily basis...

Thelonious Monk

As long as it led to regeneration of towns and villages with people actually living in them. Likely it would just lead to more one offs being built as they don't have to live in Dublin any more, which doesn't really improve anything.

KaneToad

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

As long as it led to regeneration of towns and villages with people actually living in them. Likely it would just lead to more one offs being built as they don't have to live in Dublin any more, which doesn't really improve anything.

Agreed. We need our towns & villages to be thriving communities with opportunity for our children.

OneEightSeven

Meanwhile, they're still allowing people to build one-off houses under "locals-only" clauses, which is the main reason why our towns and villages are dying. Thanks to FF's laissez-faire approach on planning permission and FG's ineptitude to recognise the problems one-off housing causes, the people who once lived in these towns grew old, moved into retirement homes/passed away and the population in these towns wasn't being replaced by younger families which caused businesses to fail and close shop. The NBP will exacerbate the issue, why would anyone buy a home with a small garden in a housing estate in a town or village when you can now buy a bungalow with a huge garden and subsidised fibre-optic broadband. The Rural Development Plan will do fúck-all to save our towns.

Donald Trump

OneEightSeven wrote: »

Meanwhile, they're still allowing people to build one-off houses under "locals-only" clauses, which is the main reason why our towns and villages are dying. Thanks to FF's laissez-faire approach on planning permission and FG's ineptitude to recognise the problems one-off housing causes, the people who once lived in these towns grew old, moved into retirement homes/passed away and the population in these towns wasn't being replaced by younger families which caused businesses to fail and close shop. The NBP will exacerbate the issue, why would anyone buy a home with a small garden in a housing estate in a town or village when you can now buy a bungalow with a huge garden and subsidised fibre-optic broadband. The Rural Development Plan will do fúck-all to save our towns.

You're mixing up a lot of soapbox talking points.



One-off housing is irrelevant to villages or towns. The people who qualify for one-off houses would not have grown up in villages. They are not moving out of villages to the houses, or at least should not be being allowed to do. Most councils define local needs as being quite close to the family home (as in something like 1.5km).



If you want to force people to live in villages, then you might as well propose forcing the poster above to move back from the city to live in their village with the people they consider to have no ambition.

Donald Trump

Pussyhands wrote: »

As someone from a rural area living in a city, none of this will make me go back where there's no ambition and everyone is noseying your business.

I'd imagine that if you did a study, the proportion of rural dwellers who leave school early - not to do a job or further training mind but to just leave school, or who are long term unemployed or on other benefits long term, would be far lower than the "urban" equivalent.

CrabRevolution

Rural advocates seem to straddle 2 stools here;

-They say everything can be done online now so no need for people to move elsewhere to do business and work; they can stay/move to the country and repopulate rural Ireland.

yet

-They still wan't all bank branches, post offices etc. to stay open, totally ignoring the fact they aren't needed any more due to the same development they praise in point 1.

ax530

I'm confused by the turning pubs into 'working hubs' by day,
office manager by day publican by night ? if a pub signs up for that are they not allowed server drink during the day ?
if you are claiming dole can you sit in the pub for the day calling it your 'working hub' not sure how it would work with corporate security if people from different competing organisations were working side by side in a 'working hub pub' each day

Mrs OBumble

Did you ever visit the work-from-home complex that was built in Miltown Malbay during the last boom? AFAIK none of the units ever sold.

Have you seen the remote working places that opened up in other places? Looked hard at who actually works from them?

(If you live in the country and have a decent job, you can afford a house big enough to have an office. You most likely don't need a remote work hub.)

Mrs OBumble

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Did you ever visit the work-from-home complex that was built in Miltown Malbay during the last boom? AFAIK none of the units ever sold.

Have you seen the remote working places that opened up in other places? Looked hard at who actually works from them?

(If you live in the country and have a decent job, you can afford a house big enough to have an office. You most likely don't need a remote work hub.)

I work for a large Irish company and the overwhelmingly majority of staff in the last survey wanted a return to the office or to be able to work in branch offices or a remote work hub. People miss real interactions with other people. Some people also want to see the back of their partner and kids for a few hours.

KaneToad

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Did you ever visit the work-from-home complex that was built in Miltown Malbay during the last boom? AFAIK none of the units ever sold.

Have you seen the remote working places that opened up in other places? Looked hard at who actually works from them?

(If you live in the country and have a decent job, you can afford a house big enough to have an office. You most likely don't need a remote work hub.)

Agreed. I think the 'remote hub' idea is a red herring. The ideal model is working from home.

KaneToad

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I work for a large Irish company and the overwhelmingly majority of staff in the last survey wanted a return to the office or to be able to work in branch offices or a remote work hub. People miss real interactions with other people. Some people also want to see the back of their partner and kids for a few hours.

My organisation has the exact opposite findings from their survey. I suppose it really depends on the personal circumstances of your staff and how 'central' their job is to their life.