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According to Gerald Conheady of SEISS, the area is lagging behind other parts of the country when it comes to IT and Internet take-up. "For instance, we carried out a survey of businesses in the region and found that less than 40 percent have a Web site while the national average is closer to 70 percent," he told ElectricNews.Net.
The survey also found that nearly 40 percent of organisations in the southeast with two to five employees did not have PCs and the figure was 20 percent for those with six to ten staff.
Conheady was speaking after the launch on Friday of SEISS's "Final Strategy & Action Plan," which puts forward a plan to develop a "fully inclusive" Information Society in the region over the next three to five years.
The plan, which was devised after consultation with representative groups and local authorities, laid out a series of objectives including the creation of easier and more affordable access to new technologies, the elimination of the "digital divide" and the increased use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to modernise and improve the delivery of public services in the southeast.
In terms of specific recommendations, the report called for the creation of a regional portal to promote the southeast to potential investors and developers. It also recommended that FAS should partner with the region's third level institutions to deliver ICT training to local communities. In addition, the report calls for the introduction of an awareness campaign and for the opening of negotiations with telecom operators to accelerate the roll out of broadband access.
Conheady said that SEISS had recently applied for funding to introduce broadband rings into the six local authorities towns/cities in the region and he was hopeful that the application would be successful. "I am convinced that there is a huge pent-up demand in the region for this technology," he commented.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Mary O'Rourke, TD, who launched the report, said the government was determined that there would not be a digital divide in Ireland. "In the last three years we have invested EUR136 million in seed capital for the roll out of broadband fibre optic cable in the regions and in the estimates announced on Thursday, I have secured a further EUR25 million for the coming year. When you add in the money that this exchequer funding leverages, there is a significantly higher amount of funding involved."
The SEISS project was set-up by the South East Regional Authority last year with financial assistance from the Information Society Strategy. Its objective is to ensure that the region can take advantage of the benefits of information technology and communications.
The southeast region, which consists of Carlow, Kilkenny, south Tipperary, Wexford and Waterford, is one of the least prosperous regions in the country with a disposable income level per capita 12 percent below the national average in 1998.
Further information can be found at http://www.seiss.ie.
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