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Executives say Ireland needs an 'E Tsar' 
Wednesday, December 12 2001
by Andrew McLindon


Ireland needs a powerful "E Tsar" if it is to fulfil its potential as
world-class centre for e-commerce, according to a new report from the Dublin
Chamber of Commerce.





Dublin Chamber's E-Working Group said on Wednesday that the country needs
"distinct and visible leadership" in the field of e-commerce. A report from
the group, which is headed by the chairman of Iona Technologies, Chris Horn, said
this is necessary because Ireland is lagging behind other cities that are seeking
to capture the status of leading e-hubs.



"At the moment, Internet and e-commerce development falls under the remit of
many different government departments and organisations such as the Department of
Public Enterprise, the Information Society Commission and, for instance, the
Department of Environment when planning is required for infrastructure. The
problem is that it is a case of everybody and nobody being in charge," commented
Declan Martin, Dublin Chamber's policy director, to ElectricNews.Net. "What is
needed is an e-commerce Minister that has direct influence on all government
departments and sits at the cabinet table," he added.



According to Dublin Chamber, the report was compiled by an expert group of
Irish-based e-commerce practitioners and it benchmarked Dublin against other
major international cities which have positioned themselves as leading e-centres
such as Copenhagen, Dubai, London, Singapore, Tel Aviv and Washington DC.
Although the report focused on Dublin, the Chamber said that most of the findings
are applicable to other Irish cities and towns and Ireland as a whole.



In order to catch-up with such cities, the report also proposes further
investment in Ireland's broadband infrastructure to ensure it is "world-class."
To make this happen, the report said that government needs to become "extremely"
proactive in removing obstacles to broadband's development in this country and in
accelerating the technology's availability. It also recommends the further
development of the legal and regulatory environment to encourage investment in
broadband infrastructure.



However, the report said that "adopting a strategy of installing the pipework
and expecting the oil to consequently immediately flow is flawed." It called for
further work to be done in increasing the use of the Internet among the public,
particularly at community level.



In order to stimulate such interest, the Chamber proposed that commercial
incentives for low cost, simple-to-use Internet access devices should be provided
and basic computer literacy and Internet training should also be made available
to all members of the general public, small companies, schools and third-level
institutions. It noted that IT literacy needs to more widely promoted by the
Irish SME sector.



The Chamber said that there were some positives in the report with Dublin doing
well in areas such as entrepreneurial culture and business skills, on legal and
regulatory frameworks, labour supply, taxation and financial incentives. But,
compared to best practice, Dublin did not do so well on issues such as the
availability of capital for new ventures and on the "digital divide."



"We are behind, but we can still catch-up and it is within our power to do so,"
remarked Martin.



Dublin Chamber of Commerce said that the final version of the report would be
published early in 2002 following discussions with key players.