Connected Hubs to host open day in Ballinasloe

A remote working hub in Ballinasloe will host an open day as part of the national Connected Hubs Showcase Day on Wednesday, April 26.

Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre will hold a briefing session from 1pm to 2pm to launch its 'Why Choose Ballinasloe' campaign, a campaign which highlights what makes the town a great location for business and remote work.

The event will be opened by Senator Aisling Dolan with closing remarks from Cllr Evelyn Parsons.

There will also be a panel of experts speaking which include: Chair Ballinasloe Area Community Development, Seamus Duffy/Brian King, , Manager of Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre & Enterprise Hub, Lyn Donnelly, Operations Manager for Grow Remote, Cait Mc Conn, Remote Transformation Manager, Grow Remote, Joanne Mangan and Niamh Creaven Connaghton from The Pulse Club, Araya Business Support Services.

Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys will officially launch the series of national open days with a visit to the Creative Spark Downtown Hub in Dundalk in County Louth. The hub will host an event focussed on town regeneration, hub users and their experience of returning to the area and working from the hub.

On the day hubs across the Connected Hubs network will display the incredible variety and regional diversity with a focus on promoting why their hub and locality are great places for remote workers. This open day is taking place in support of the Government’s national campaign promoting remote work and is likely to become an annual event in the Connected Hubs calendar.

Connected Hubs is a flagship initiative led by Minister Humphreys and the Department of Rural and Community Development and implemented by the Western Development Commission. The initiative will connect and deepen the remote working infrastructure across rural Ireland.

The network now has 315 hubs across the country registered on its online platform. One of the aims of the Connected Hubs initiative is to create a shared platform and brand and to raise awareness of hubs, the services they offer and the opportunities to relocate to, or establish a business from anywhere in Ireland, as well as developing and raising awareness of hubs as convenient and professional distributed workplaces.

Minister Heather Humphreys commented: “When I launched ‘Our Rural Future’, the most ambitious and transformational policy for rural development in decades, I set an ambitious goal to have 400 remote working hubs nationwide by 2025. We are well on track to exceed that target with 315 Hubs already on the national Connected Hubs network.

“I have met remote workers in every county who tell me the huge difference working from their local Hub has made to their lives: Less time commuting; more time with family; better work-life balance.

“Connected Hubs is playing a pivotal role in rural regeneration by allowing people to live, work and raise a family in their own locality. I believe that in the 21st century the local Connected Hub will perform as important a role as the Carnegie Library network did in the last century, providing a portal for learning, economic opportunities and empowering our rural communities across the country.”

National Hub Network Programme Manager, Stephen Carolan, said: “This national Connected Hubs Showcase Day will see hubs from all over the country take on the role as key activators of community activity, promoting their locality as a great place to live, work and invest in.

National Director of Showcase Day, Eoin Costello, added: “This national initiative will help address the three pillars needed to deliver on the rural repopulation through remote working goals of the Department of Rural & Community Development's 'Our Rural Future', a strong hub in a vibrant locality with engaged stakeholders. It will help local people know the value of their hub and what it does in a very visible way.”

The showcase day will encourage more employers, small businesses and start-ups to consider the wide range of remote working options available nationally. It will also enable individual hubs to strengthen their stakeholder relationships and collaborate to attract investment, remote workers, home buyers, shoppers and visitors to their locality..