My Department and others have been working, and continue to work, on addressing the digital divide with a range of measures to promote digital engagement.
One of the issues has been access to the technology and infrastructure — this is being addressed both by the market and in the case of areas where broadband provision remains an issue through the National Broadband Scheme in which my Department is investing substantially.
Skills are one of the key issues when considering the digital divide. Skills provision is being addressed in several ways. There are training opportunities available across the country provided by community, voluntary and not for profit organisations. My Department has assisted some of these initiatives though various eInclusion grant schemes.
The most recent of these schemes is the BenefIT 2 eInclusion grant scheme. The results of this scheme were announced by my colleague the Minister of State, Conor Lenihan, T.D., in December last. Under scheme 7,390 training places are being made available across the country. Details of the training, the locations and contact information for the training providers are available on my Department's website at www.eInclusion.ie
In addition, training options also exist for people in libraries and in night classes throughout the country and from a range of private sector training providers.