Ms Adeline O'Brien:

I can speak specifically about the digital inclusion fund and Mr. Saunders can respond on the other issues. We are proposing a digital inclusion fund and the rationale is that we are all aware of the digital divide that became apparent during the pandemic. It is important to note the digital divide was always there, although masked in a way with services similar to ours, where we delivered on-site and bespoke one-to-one training and support for people accessing information and communications technology systems. Once the pandemic hit and everybody was expected to access those services within their home, the divide became very apparent.

We have assessed the need for digital inclusion and we see access to digital technology as a rights-based matter, as it has an impact on a person's ability to access services. We see mainstream transition to most services, including the delivery of healthcare, employment services, Department of Social Protection services and housing, and we see people living in marginalised communities further disadvantaged and marginalised.

We have identified four particular characteristics of digital exclusion and, within that, the four components that need to be in place for a person to be fully digitally included. There is the hardware piece that became very obvious, and we saw many news items with community groups responding to people in need of hardware and devices. Along with that is a need for an operating system; there is a software requirement when a piece of hardware is provided to a person so the device can operate and function fully. There is also digital competence, and this is about a person having the capacity and ability to engage online in the same way as he or she would in person. That might be second nature or mainstream to some of us but it can be a very alien concept for people who are not digitally included or are otherwise marginalised for a variety of reasons. The final component is connectivity, and that is not just about whether there is provision in an area. It is about the cost of connectivity. We see broadband and connectivity as an essential utility and one cannot be fully included without that. Unless all four components are in place, a person cannot be fully included in society to access all required services.

We are proposing a digital inclusion fund that could be easily administered throughout the local development network. As has been mentioned, this network would have national reach and the proposition is that the nuances of digital inclusion in each part of the country could be addressed specifically in each county or small area by the local development company. As was mentioned by the previous speaker, we have managed to have an impact on marginalised people in a very robust and agile way right across the country, and we see digital inclusion as just an extension of that.

There is not a major distinction between levels of poverty, whether it is food, energy or digital poverty. We have demonstrated a clear ability to respond to food poverty very quickly and we can and have been doing the same with respect to digital poverty. We estimate that in order to achieve national coverage, the cost would be approximately €7.4 million, which is an average of approximately €160,000 per local development company. We feel we are ready to go with this vital service when we are talking about access to online services becoming mainstream for everybody. We have already seen those on the margins excluded before the pandemic becoming further excluded, with deprivation becoming more compounded as a result of this exclusion.