Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 November 2021
184. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will report on the background, take-up and roll-out of the digital skills for citizens scheme over the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54136/21]
View answerIn December 2016 my Department issued a competitive Call for Proposals inviting community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations to apply for a grant to deliver basic digital skills training under the new ‘Digital Skills for Citizens Grant Scheme’.
In responding to the Department’s call for proposals, it was a matter for each entity to determine the number of citizens it proposed to train and the geographic spread of training, in accordance with the Department’s published Statement of Requirements. Following evaluation of the proposals received, my Department entered into Grant Agreements with 15 organisations. Pre-funded grants were paid by way of instalment and all payments were subject to verification that specified training targets were met. The Department envisaged that 25,000 citizens, at a cost of €2.2m would be trained annually over a three year period.
Since training under the Scheme commenced in 2017, €5.5 million has been invested in providing training to almost 60,000 participants. The final payments permitted under existing Grant Agreements for the Scheme were paid to grantees in December 2019 and training classes were due to be completed by end of June 2020.
In March 2020 the ability to deliver training classes was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and classes were cancelled in compliance with the public health guidance. New Covid-19 Amended Grant Agreements were put in place to take account of the additional measures required to ensure a safe return to face-to-face training. The Department also approved a number of pilot agreements to deliver training remotely using a blend of supports including phone and online platforms.
The position as of October 2021 is that nine organisations are in receipt of pre-funded grants of €291,787 to train between about 2,000 and 3,000 people depending on their respective classroom/remote grant agreements. The date for completion of training has been extended to 31 December 2021. The number of participants during the period 2019 to October 2021 is set out below:
2019 17,777;
2020 3,116;
2021 1,285
