Mr. George Ryan:

Our firm view is that this is a social inclusion issue. It is not just training and skills. It is an understanding of the effect this digitalisation is having and will increasingly have on people's lives, whether one is a person in a low income community who is struggling day-to-day or whether one is a worker who will be forgotten and will be out of work. We are advocates and activists for the development of communities and we view our digital inclusion and literacy activities in that context. They do not sit outside of people and the communities. In the last number of years of the recession, the climate for investment in communities changed. We witnessed a steep reduction in funding for community-based initiatives and worsening disadvantage and social problems. In this age, some parts of our society are becoming richer very quickly.

However, there is another part of society which has actually gone backwards in the past number of years. As others have said, this needs to be an integrated approach. It needs a timescale - a five-year strategy that can identify how to overcome these issues. It is important that people get an opportunity to learn as well in a peer-to-peer environment or an intergenerational environment. The latter environment works well. It has a similar attraction to people. I refer to where people not only can understand the skills but can debate among themselves what are they missing out on, what is the issue for them, where are they losing out and where can they benefit. They do that as peers and are supported in the context of a national integrated approach.