Ruairí Quinn
Ceist:1 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach if he will make a statement on the work programme and progress to date of the Information Society Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16644/01]
Ceisteanna–Questions. - Information Society Commission.
Michael Noonan
Ceist:2 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the recent work of the Information Society Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17706/01]
Michael Noonan
Ceist:3 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach the names and dates of appointment of the members of the Information Society Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17707/01]
Michael Noonan
Ceist:4 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach the costs which have accrued to his Department in respect of the Information Society Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17708/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together.
The Government recently approved the appointment of a second Information Society Commission as part of a new package of measures to progress the development of the Information Society in Ireland. The new commission will be in place very shortly. The remit of the new commission will be to monitor Ireland's performance, in a national and international context, in its ongoing transition to an Information Society; highlight the challenges and opportunities arising, including in the short, medium and long-term; contribute to the development of the next Government action plan; identify areas of co-operation with other countries, for example, the establishment of links with the Northern Ireland Information Age initiative; establish working groups as required to address specific sectoral issues with respect to the Information Society and develop recommendations for action; and prepare an annual report for submission by the Taoiseach on the Commission's behalf to the Oireachtas.
The Tánaiste, the Minister for Public Enterprise and I are in the process of finalising the membership list for the new commission. We expect to conclude this in a matter of days. We will need to contact these individuals and consult as to their availability and willingness to serve on the commission. I envisage, therefore, that we would be in a position to announce details of the membership very soon.
The Information Society Commission is funded under a subhead to the Vote of my Department. The combined outturn for the years 1997-2000 is £1.7 million/2.16 million. The provision for the Commission in 2001 is £565,000/717,550.
Why has it taken six months to come to this point given that the previous commission lapsed more than six months ago? Can the Taoiseach share with me the concern expressed by IBEC and others that the Government appears to have lost its focus or its leadership in the whole area of e-business and e-commerce, which it trumpeted so loudly in the past?
The reason for the time-lag was that the outgoing commission in its third report at the end of last year outlined that it believed the work it had done was completed and we should not continue in the same format. It said there should be a reappraisal and examination of what is necessary for the next few years and it felt its work of disseminating and propagating information was finished. It suggested what should be done. It said there should be consultation with the social partners, the industry and others and that has been done. The new structures effectively take account of the views of the outgoing commission, although some changes have been made since the discussions between the start of the year and Easter.
There will be a new Cabinet committee on the information society and an expanded information society policy unit based in my Department. This will subsume the ISC secretariat that has been in Dublin Castle for the past number of years. There will also be a new Information Society Commission. Most of the people, whom I thanked earlier for giving their time and service, are not available to continue on the commission. They gave a certain commitment to it and we are trying to secure people of a similar standing for the new commission. I hope that will be possible. There will also be a new strategy group comprising Secretaries General, charged with progressing the matters on e-government. We have taken on board the views expressed in the commission's third report. It is up to the new commission to bring that work forward. In the meantime, as I announced, the e-Cabinet project and other important initiatives continue to move ahead. Consultants have been appointed and the information society fund, which is administered by the Department of Finance, has been increased to almost £50 million this year. The fund has progressed the objectives in the action plan so there has been no delay in that regard. The work has continued. The new commission must deal with the new tasks outlined in the main by the pre vious commission. We must also develop a second action plan and work is under way on this.
Despite the Taoiseach's plausible reply, the decision to appoint a new commission was only taken as a result of the questions tabled by me and Deputy Quinn. The proof of this is that the Taoiseach cannot name the new chairperson of the commission or any of the members. Does the Taoiseach accept Ireland's rating at twentieth in the international information society index – known as the ISI – is extraordinarily low for a country that aspires to be at the cutting edge of information technology?
Deputy Noonan is incorrect because this question has been around for months. It has been on the Order Paper for a long time.
Who is the chairperson?
As I said, the new Information Society Commission is not set up, although we have contacted a number of people. As the Deputy is aware, the previous commission comprised people of very high standing who were also very busy. The concept is to involve people at the top end, but such individuals are very busy. We have contacted a number of people and some of them are likely to accept. However, others will not accept because people in this industry do an enormous amount of travelling. Many of the members of the previous commission were often away although they gave their best. They met early in the morning, late at night and at weekends to try to fulfil the strategy. We will get a high level group but people at the highest level of the IT sector are being asked to give up their time for nothing. The outgoing chairperson, Vivienne Jupp, gave an enormous amount of time to the commission at practically no cost to the State.
The previous commission set out the route it believed should be followed. Ireland is at the cutting edge but it is a highly competitive area. The level of investment in this area is vast. Resources are being invested in different areas. The information society fund has £50 million to spend this year, which is an improvement on three years ago when it had a tiny budget. Many projects have been advanced and it covers many Departments – only one or two Departments were involved at the start. An expanded information society policy unit can provide policy advice on developing the information society while, at the same time, monitoring the implementation of the Government's action plan. It can publish and monitor a successor to the first action plan because the work of that plan is, effectively, complete. We must also monitor compliance with the benchmarking provisions of the eEurope action plan.
A number of countries are now putting enormous resources into this area and expanding their budgets for it. We must do likewise. Many other initiatives are ongoing arising from the last report and if Deputies wish me to answer questions on them I will do so. Not alone have we implemented the last report but most of it continues. The initiatives include training, a road show and an awareness campaign. These initiatives do not die but continue into the future.