New Connections - Department of Taoiseach

(7) eInclusion(7.1) Coordination and Policy Development• Review and rearticulate the implementation strategy.IS SecUpdate:The Government continues to place a high priority on the need for an inclusiveapproach to the implementation of all strands of the Information Society agenda. Anumber of projects were completed or reached an evaluation stage in their lifecycle andthe recommendations of the Task Force on Lifelong Learning have been accepted byGovernment. It is now timely to initiate a review of the policy area to ensure thecontinued relevance and robustness of the framework that underpins the Government'sobjective of 'an Information Society for All'. The review will build on the lessons learnedfrom the work completed to date to inform future work programmes and fundingdecisions, and provide for synergies across all sectors of the community, both public andprivate. The IS Policy Unit will initiate the review early in Q1 2003.(7.2) Universal Participation InitiativeELG• To promote participation in the Information Society through a Local Authority-ledinitiative aimed, inter alia, at building computer skills and providing local content.UpdateAn application for assistance from the Information Society Fund for the development ofa Universal Participation Initiative through the County and City Enterprise Boards wasmade in June 2002. While approval for the funding of €170,000 required to run pilotprojects in 2002 was received, no commitment was received on the much greater funding(approx. €600,000) required to roll-out the scheme in 2003. It was decided that pilotprojects should not be undertaken in the absence of such a commitment. The proposalhas been re-examined and a revised proposal for two pilot projects has been submittedto the Information Society Policy Unit for consideration.54