Mr. George Ryan:

I thank the committee for the invitation to make a submission on this important topic and for inviting FIT to the meeting. The presentation we just heard was very impressive.

FIT works in close collaboration with SOLAS and ETBs in order that diverse jobseekers can access quality ICT training programmes and more recently apprenticeships. FIT has also developed digital literacy programmes with the support of the private sector, global foundations, the EU, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and SOLAS, which to date have benefited more than 30,000 people. These programmes demonstrate a practical low-cost train-the-trainer approach, supporting people with literacy and numeracy gaps, youth at risk, migrants, older people, farmers and those who want access to services, such as online banking.

In our submission, we highlighted Irish and EU policies that we believe are important in addressing digital literacy, including: the national digital strategy and its digital skills for citizens scheme, which I hope we will hear more about later; the further education and training, FET, strategy and its goal of active inclusion; the skills to advance and innovation through collaboration schemes from the Department of Education and Skills; and the EU’s key competencies for lifelong learning, one of which is digital and technology-based competency.

Our work on the ground has made us acutely aware that projects such as digital skills for citizens funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment provided a constant glimmer of hope and connectivity for many communities during the darkest days of the recent recession.

In our submission, we reported on Ireland’s poor ranking and we have heard much about this. Ireland is 21st out of 33 countries for digital literacy, based on the OECD’s survey of adult skills, the PIAAC. We believe we can, and should, do much better. We are running behind neighbours such as the UK. We are embarrassed about that as a digital leader in our economic performance.

There are two key emerging threats that Ireland needs to act on urgently. First, one in three jobs in Ireland is at high risk due to the impact of digitalisation. Second, accelerating digitalisation in private and public service delivery has the potential to increase the digital divide. Instead we need to ensure that digitalisation is an enabler for people, particularly vulnerable workers and older people.

FIT has four recommendations that we believe merit the committee's consideration. The first we call "digi-community". We propose the development of a five-year digital inclusion strategy to invest in the building of social capital in communities, building on the experience of activists such as FIT and others, and the needs articulated by disadvantaged communities, whether they be neighbourhood-based or defined by other factors such as age, education, disability or ethnicity.

The second we named "digi-workforce". We propose the establishment of a targeted programme to upskill employees who are vulnerable due to their lack of digital literacy. Our third recommendation is to embed what we call a "digihub" or "digiclub" model, as we detailed in our submission, as a strand in the proposed digi-community and digi-workforce actions. It is not just skills training; it is engagement with and empowerment of the people doing the learning.

We believe that a digitally literate workforce and a community go hand-in-hand, and that the monitoring of progress is best judged in the round. We recommend the creation of a digital skills observatory to track progress across community and the workforce, to benchmark against peer nations and to evolve and appraise stakeholders.

I appreciate the opportunity to share our views and make our recommendations.