Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 Dec 2002

Vol. 558 No. 5

Written Answers. - Industrial Development.

David Stanton

Question:

120 Mr. Stanton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans to develop a number of State capital digital library projects to help promote the information society, raise awareness in the corporate sector of the benefits of digital content and as servers to administration projects for Ireland internationally as recommended in the recent Forfás report, A Strategy for the Digital Content Industry in Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25166/02]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

Digital content is emerging as a new economic sector with tremendous enterprise and creative potential for Ireland. In order to properly exploit the opportunities that the digital content sector provides, my Department requested Forfás to develop a co-ordinated strategy for the promotion of the digital content industry. As a first step in that process Forfás, in conjunction with the Department, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, commissioned a review of the relative stage of development and potential of the digital content industry in Ireland and internationally. Published in November of this year the review pinpoints future opportunities and identifies priority actions to achieve a co-ordinated and strategic approach to the promotion of the digital content industry into the future.

While the digital content industry is enormously complex and varied, five market sectors have been identified in the strategy document as high potential growth sectors to be jointly targeted by the indigenous and overseas development agencies. One such sector is the digital library sector. This sector is increasingly being recognised as a source of historical, educational and cultural reference and as such, libraries and other services are beginning to move towards becoming digital libraries. The sector is still evolving and there has been little enterprise development in Ireland in the digital library sector to date. However a range of related projects are taking place at third level institutions in Ireland, assisting the development of skills in this area. The Dublin Institute of Technology and the National Gallery of Ireland have undertaken a project to develop a virtual reality based system for viewing the gallery's art collection.

The digital library niche is one where Irish enterprise could potentially develop a strong capability with high growth opportunities in content design through to content storage. Plans to develop this sector are at an early stage and in order to guide and co-ordinate the development of the digital library sector and the other sectoral strategies pinpointed in the report my Department, in association with Forfás, will establish a digital content steering group, comprising the industrial development agencies and relevant Departments.