diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/ssh-pub-key-check-c42309653dbe3493.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/ssh-pub-key-check-c42309653dbe3493.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6b38bb0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/ssh-pub-key-check-c42309653dbe3493.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - The check to validate whether an appropriate ssh public key
+    is available to copy into the container cache has been
+    corrected to check the deployment host, not the LXC host.
diff --git a/tasks/main.yml b/tasks/main.yml
index 6503f4a3..e26478da 100644
--- a/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tasks/main.yml
@@ -13,17 +13,18 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-- name: Check for the presence of a public key file on the host
-  stat:
+- name: Check for the presence of a public key file on the deployment host
+  local_action:
+    module: stat
     path: /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
   register: _ssh_key
   when: lxc_container_ssh_key is undefined
   tags:
     - always
 
-- name: Fail if a ssh public key is not set in a var and not present on the host
+- name: Fail if a ssh public key is not set in a var and is not present on the deployment host
   fail:
-    msg: "Please set the lxc_container_ssh_key variable or ensure that the host has the file /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub present."
+    msg: "Please set the lxc_container_ssh_key variable or ensure that the deployment host has the file /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub present."
   when:
     - lxc_container_ssh_key is undefined
     - not _ssh_key.stat.exists