Latest Initiatives/Developments
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Overview
A key focus of digital inclusion is getting more people to use modern digital technologies – in particular internet related technologies.
As of early 2011 just under one third of the adult population in Ireland were not internet users (eurostat).CSO figures 2011 show that approximatley 21% of adults have never used the internet and about 1 home in 5 do not have a computer. More information on the current position can be had from the CSO and statistics produced on a quarterly basis by ComStat. Further insights relating to older people in Ireland can be gained from the Survey of older people and ICTs in Ireland (2009) conduced by Age Action Ireland and the Work Research Centre.
Achieving more widespread digital inclusion is important because of the benefits it will deliver for all. The attainment of increased digital engagement is a crucial enabling measure underpinning a range of Government strategic and policy objectives and will be central to the next National Digital Strategy currently in preparation. It is crucial to the development of Ireland as a knowledge society, and to realising the full potential of delivering increased efficiencies in public service delivery (eGovernment). It can contribute to increasing competiveness as well as to better social justice and equality outcomes. For citizens, being on-line means opportunities to save money, better access to services, access to more information and resources – many of them free – more communication and networking opportunities and much more.
Digital inclusion has been identified as a priority in the Technology Actions Report to Support the Smart Economy 
of July 2009 (pages 76-77). The e-Health report was published on 20 July 2011. Digital Inclusion is also a priority in an EU context. More information on the EU dimension is available at http://www.epractice.eu/einclusion.
There are also specific targets for increased digital inclusion set in the Digital Agenda for Europe including:- halve (to 15%) the proportion of the adult population who have never used internet and increase regular internet use from 60% to 75% by 2015.
The Department – through the eInclusion Section of the Knowledge Society Division - is seeking to promote higher levels of digital inclusion in Ireland. In pursuit of this objective we work with other key stakeholders to identify the most effective approaches and strategies to promote more digital inclusion. The Department also represents Ireland on the Digital Inclusion Workstream set up under the British Irish Council. Initiatives in other administrations, such as the UK’ Race On-line – are also relevant.
There are a range of initiatives operating in Ireland which are helping to achieve more widespread digital inclusion. Amongst these are basic skills measures such as Age Action Ireland’s Getting Started programme, the Log on Learn initiative, BT’s Connected communities initiative, Irish Internet Association’s (IIA) Digitise the Nation, and Internet Buttons. Google are focusing on digital engagement through their Age Engage initiative which demonstrates that older people are never too old to learn, the fantastic opportunities for those who do engage - and how easy it can be to engage.
Get Your Folks Online developed by Google, in partnership with Age Action Ireland is a free and easy to use website consisting of lesson plans to help people pass on Internet skills to someone else.
Google are also contributing to awareness raising through their sponsorship of the Silver Surfer Awards with Age Action Ireland. Some approaches focus on particular sectors (e.g. the work being done by ENCLUDE to transform the operations of charity organisations). Digital inclusion is also relevant to small businesses. A number of initiatives are currently focusing on developing the potential of SMEs to improve their on-line capabilities. These include the Getting Irish Business On-line initiative from Google as well as a pilot initiative - WebActivate.
Internet Buttons is a free webtool that allows those confident on the net to create an easy-to-use customised web browser for family members, friends or neighbours who are new to the internet or find it confusing. The Internet Buttons browser links to sites and services which the the person being helped might find useful or enjoyable.
The Department has provided grant assistance to community and voluntary sector organisations to support projects providing basic internet use training. These schemes known as BenefIT (Benefit from Information Technology) build on earlier schemes between them the Benefit schemes are providing assistance mostly in the form of training to approximatley 100,000 people.Under the current Benefit scheme basic, on-line training is being provided to approx 40,000 people at about 700 locations throughout Ireland. The Report on the outcome of the first BenefIT scheme using quantitative and qualitative analysis demonstrated that the scheme was very successful. It outlines the outcomes of each of the projects, identifies approaches that worked best and highlightes some of projects of note including the Getting Started programme, the Simple IT project in Limerick and the DCU Intergenerational Learning project. Further grants were awarded under the Benefit 2 scheme under which over 7000 people were trained during 2010.
Archive information relating to digital inclusion can be found here.