Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. We tend to monitor them. We work with the EU so that there is independent monitoring. We are one of the most advanced EU member states in that context. The EU digital economic and society index, known as DESI, published as part of the report on the digital decade, shows that Ireland has a leading position in the EU in terms of SMEs, with a basic level of digital intensity at 85% compared with our target of 90%.

Regarding the digitisation of businesses, 22.7% of businesses with more than ten employees are using big data, which places us fifth in the EU. The EU average is 14.2%. A total of 47.4% of businesses are using cloud, which puts us at eighth in the EU. The EU average is 34%. A total of 7.9% are using AI, which puts us at 13th in the EU and right on the EU average.

I am not happy with any of those figures. I want to see them grow. For them to grow, we have to grow confidence in businesses to adopt the technology. That is why we are enabling the digital portal which will allow each business to find its own space. The work of CeADAR and the European digital innovation hubs will perhaps simplify the journey and put the language involved in this journey in more accessible terms.

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