I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Like Deputy O'Connor, I am not an expert on computers or IT. I can access the Internet and send emails so I know a little about it. I first wish to outline the Government's record on IT. Ireland has fallen one place in The Economist intelligence unit's e-readiness rankings. This measures how conducive a country is to Internet opportunities. We have fallen to 15th place worldwide, which is very worrying indeed. We lag behind the US, the Netherlands, Britain, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Finland, Singapore, Norway, Hong Kong and Austria. Ireland is ranked 25th of 30 countries surveyed in terms of broadband access for small firms and home users.
A digital divide has emerged along class lines with the failure to develop a proper digital television service preventing lower income groups from gaining access to email and to the Internet. There is a low Internet use among low income families. Geographically the divide shows that high technology is racing ahead in Dublin far quicker than elsewhere in the country. Some 19 Internet data centres were due to be completed in Dublin in 2003, but the total for the rest of the country is two.
Deputy Eamon Ryan referred to the fact that education was left out of the Bill. The ratio of students to computers in a school outside Dublin is 14:1 whereas for schools close to Dublin the ratio is 9:1, which is not a great score card. One exception to that is St. Anne's school in Killaloe. Last Monday, my colleague from County Clare, the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, opened an extension to that school, where I saw two of the finest computer rooms I have ever seen. They were modern and well laid out. I envy the students of that school having such a modern centre when compared to other post-primary schools that do not have such facilities. I welcome that sort of initiative. It is important that students have computer access in both national and secondary schools. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, will encourage the Minister for Education and Science to provide such facilities in all post-primary schools.
If ever it is apt to talk of squandering the boom it is with regard to information technology. Fine Gael welcomes the hub, which will secure our national position in IT development. We should remember we already have a digital hub from which we continue to derive national benefit. Coming from County Clare I have some knowledge on this. Five years ago Telecom Éireann had a competition to establish the first information age town in the country. Against stiff opposition from places like Killarney and Castlebar, Ennis won the competition. The town received an investment of €19 million in infrastructure, skills and services from Telecom Éireann. Ennis has its own website which is www.ennis.ie, which is very good and well worth visiting. It was a magnificent achievement at the time and both nationally and internationally the hub has significant advantages. It has become a living laboratory attracting skills and international recognition and branding. Crucially it brings high credibility and acceptance to all sectors, including business, education, the public sector, the voluntary sector and end-users in their homes, which is particularly important.
Ennis has a population of approximately 20,000. There is considerable scope to leverage the infrastructure and people in Ennis for trials, tests and research which would benefit the whole country and put it at the forefront of technological innovation. Ennis now boasts one of the most advanced telecommunications infrastructure in Ireland. The town is served by the French designed Alcatel digital exchange and is equipped with standard and primary ISDN lines which are available on demand. The first digital broadband ring around any town in Ireland was provided in Ennis in 1998. I am delighted the Minister with responsibility for the information society, Deputy Hanafin, has arrived. She has visited Ennis and seen the facilities there.
In 1999 Ennis became the first location in Ireland to have broadband access to the Internet through a new exciting technology, ADSL, which is a digital modem attached to a home phone and connects immediately to a similar modem in the national exchange. It enables connection at very high speed and gives permanent connection to the Internet. Ennis is also the sole location for VDSL with more than 100 installations in the town. VDSL is more advanced than ADSL with extra capacity for television channels.
This is a truly remarkable achievement and a tribute to the innovative people in the town. Some 5,000 ICT business and science students graduate each year from third level institutions in Galway and Limerick. They are only 45 minutes from Ennis. As the information age town, 75% of houses in Ennis have a PC, which is a fantastic achievement. While establishing Ennis as the information age town, many householders took exams in the usage of PCs. In one year alone 4,300 people were trained by 11 agencies around the town. Some 5,200 children in the area have e-mail addresses. This represents a whole generation of children equipped for the technological world that awaits them. Ennis is vibrant because 42% of its population is under 25 years of age. I hope we will be ready for future innovation. Based on a survey in 2001, people in Ennis spend about 8.3 hours per week on the Internet. E-learning at Ennis is a project that ensures lifelong learning through the workforce.
I bring all these facts to the attention of the House to give some context to why we are discussing the Bill today. I welcome section 9(3) of the Bill which outlines breathtaking plans for the Liberties and Coombe areas of Dublin. If this succeeds it will transform the whole area. One can only be excited by the project. However, I temper my excitement with two provisos. We cannot allow educated, well paid and technically literate whiz kids to work, create and innovate while the people of the area get no benefit from the project and their new high tech neighbours. The Government must ensure a proper framework is in place to increase new business opportunities for residents of these areas. We must also remember the budget and the overdue national development plan, which is running in parallel with the national spatial strategy.
Many projects in the national development plan, including the Ennis bypass, are running behind schedule. Road infrastructure is vital. No matter how technologically advanced a town or city, it must have good road access. The Ennis bypass has been promised for years. Many industrialists who come to the town, particularly on Friday afternoons, see traffic jams, an experience which does little to attract new industry. I am sure the position is similar in other provincial towns.
The national spatial strategy launched last year designated Ennis a hub town and Shannon a gateway. The strategy is designed to take the pressure off the capital and bring development to the regions, including County Clare which has suffered tremendously in terms of job losses through the years. For the strategy to be implemented and the Government's policy of balanced regional development to be honoured, the Administration must not rest on its laurels. The Bill and future development of the digital hub must not be viewed as the be all and end all or the dawning of a new technological era.
There have been advances in Ennis. However, despite being designated an information age town and its broadband access, it has also suffered significant job losses in recent years. I have statistics on overseas foreign investment which show it has lost 245 jobs in this sector alone since autumn 2000. The figure for the indigenous sector is 191 making a total of 436 lost jobs. Although we have the technology and information age status and the town has been designated a digital hub, we do not appear to be attracting the jobs that count.
Against this background, Industry Ennis, a new partnership comprising Shannon Development, Ennis Information Age Town Limited, Ennis Town Council, Clare County Council, the IDA, Ennis Chamber of Commerce, FÁS and some private sector representatives, was established recently. The role of the organisation is to lever the advantage of information age town status in order to try to sustain economic development and make Ennis attractive to potential investors.
Since it was established earlier this year, Industry Ennis has made an impact, creating some 102 jobs. Several other initiatives have also been launched, including two overseas projects which it is envisaged will initially create 13 jobs with potential for 12 more. In conjunction with Shannon Development, Industry Ennis has also produced plans to develop the information age park on the Gort Road on the outskirts of the town. Some €10 million has been allocated for the project which will provide infrastructure and services. The first phase will include some 50,000 sq. ft. of office space. The information age park is located alongside the railway line on the western rail corridor which was, unfortunately, ignored again in the strategic rail review published yesterday. The review was extremely disappointing as there were plans to open a small railway station to transport some of the products manufactured in the information age park and provide rail access for workers travelling from other areas.
A major problem for Ennis is that, while it is in one way well located geographically, it has the disadvantage of being located between Galway and Limerick, both of which have universities. In recent times industry has not expanded in line with the increase in population, despite the digital hub and information age status of the town. Ennis is becoming a dormitory town for people working in Galway and Limerick. Industry Ennis will have a vital role in regenerating the town and strengthening outside focus on it.
The Bill must ensure digital hub status benefits the people of my town and the country in general. It must be maintained, developed and allowed to flourish. Any other policy would be detrimental and wasteful. If the Government was to plough time, energy and funding into a new digital hub to the detriment of established information technology centres, it would have a damaging impact in terms of jobs and investment as well as our reputation and IT structures. I hope the Digital Hub Development Agency will give us an international platform to improve our reputation and, above all, provide our growing population with jobs in the information technology sector.