Cllr Sheridan's work from home motion passed at Louth County Council

Local Fianna Fáil councillor John Sheridan has welcomed the passing of his motion at Louth County Council's monthly meeting seeking for Louth to become a leader on the provision of shared work spaces and eHubs as an alternative to commuting.

"I welcome the passing of the motion and that colleagues described it as a very progressive suggestion," Cllr Sheridan said after the meeting.

"During the election, I met so many people who are commuting daily to office jobs in Dublin and that is why I tabled this motion. I see work from home initiatives and eHubs as a serious and realistic alternative for those commuters."

"I received a reply from the council that confirmed that the local Enterprise office has applied for funding from central government for these initiatives.

"I also welcome that discussions are underway to provide a space in Ardee for co-working. We see the successful eHub in Louth village, as well as Creative spark in Dundalk and The Mill in Drogheda and hopefully similar facilities can be rolled out"

"Thousands of people are commuting every day to Dublin and in many cases these are avoidable trips. The M1has turned into a daily conveyor belt and I note that now it has tailbacks to the City North exit every morning.

"I believe initiatives like this are key to have better work life balance for people in the county particularly for those with young children in childcare. It is also a significant step towards climate action if we can remove the need for people to travel to Dublin and sit for hours in traffic which is of course harmful in itself for the environment."

"Finally for the council it is a win-win, people spending more time in the county will mean money is spent in the local economy; also it will encourage more people to move back to Louth who are perhaps living in Dublin at present and feel they have to stay there for commuting reasons. Both of those bring obvious benefits long term to the Council."