Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Since 1997, the Government has established two successive Information Society Commissions to act as an independent advisory body to Government on matters relating to the information society. The first Information Society Commission was established by the Government in May 1997, in response to the report of Ireland's information society steering committee, entitled Information Society Ireland: Strategy for Action. It ended in December 2000. The second commission was set up in November 2001 and ended its term of office on 31 December 2004.

The amounts spent in respect of the Information Society Commission are as follows: year 2005 —€333,900; year 2004 —€484,722; year 2003 —€600,456; year 2002 —€514,954; year 2001- €305,638; year 2000 —€635,726; year 1999 —€661,645; year 1998 —€647,832; and year 1997 —€195,122.

During its term of office, the commission has published a number of influential reports on a range of topics and conducted a number of policy seminars. All reports of the second commission are available at www.isc.ie. The membership of the first Information Society Commission was:

Name	Company
Ms Vivienne Jupp (Chairman),	Andersen Consulting
Ms Selina Bonnie	Communications Consultant
Ms Paula Carey	ICTU
Mr. Donal Connell	3COM
Mr. Seán Corkery	Esat Telecom
Dr. Eamonn G. Hall	Telecom Éireann
Mr. Paul Kavanagh
Mr. Dermot McCarthy	Department of the Taoiseach
Mr. Eugene Murray	RTE
Mr. Séamus Ó Canainn	Blackrock Education Centre
Ms Barbara Patton	Irish Permanent plc (Note: Ms Patton resigned in 1998)

Reports published by the first Information Society Commission include:

Information Society Ireland Identity Guidelines;

Information Society Ireland — the World is Changing Fast — Show that you're ahead — 1st Report of the Information Society Commission, December 1997;

General Public Survey 1998 — Ireland as an Information Society . . . what the public is saying, November 1998;

Business Survey 1998 — Ireland as an Information Society . . . is the business community ready, December 1998;

Implementing the Information Society in Ireland: An Action Plan, January 1999;

Second Report of the Information Society Commission, April 1999;

Learning Report — Building a Capacity for change, July 1999;

General Public survey 1 — Ireland's Progress as an Information Society, October 1999;

Business Survey 1 — Irish Business in the Information Society, December 1999;

General Public Survey 2 — Early and Late Adopters of Net Technology, February 2000;

IT Access for All Report, March 2000;

General Public Survey 3 — New Technology: Attitudes and Expectations, March 2000;

Business Survey 2 — eWork: an activity, not a place, April 2000;

Business Survey 3 — New Technology in Irish Business: Skills and Training, May 2000;

Business Survey 4 — Internet Access and Usage within Irish Businesses, May 2000;

Benchmarking Ireland in the Information Society Report, May 2000;

How the Business Community is adapting to the Information Society in Ireland, September 2000;

How the General Public is adapting to the Information Society in Ireland, October 2000;

Third Report of the Information Society Commission, December 2000; and

Innovation in Learning in the Information Society: A comparative International Study (CRITE Report), December 2000.

The Membership of the Second Information Society Commission was:

Name	Company
Danny O'Hare (Chairman)	Former President of DCU (Dublin City University)
Claire Cunningham	Director, Aura Internet Services Ltd
Dr. Chris Coughlan	Hewlett Packard
Michael Byrne	CEO, Ennis Information Age Services
Jerry Shanahan	ICTU/Amicus
Karen Hynes	Manager of E-Business Services, Chambers of Commerce of Ireland
Colm Reilly	PA Consulting
Inez Bailey	Director, National Adult Literacy Agency
Dr. Eamonn Conway	Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Mary Immaculate College, UL (University of Limerick)
Robert Johnston	JLS Software Solutions
Clodagh O'Donnell	Client Executive, Financial Services Sector, IBM
Dee Cari	Torque Management
Marion O'Neill	Manager, Kilkenny Information Age Town
Dr. Patricia O'Hara	Manager, Policy Division, Western Development Commission
Christopher Took	Web Developer (resigned September 2002)
Charles Stanley-Smith	Chief Technical Officer, Piercom
Brian Lennon	Guidance Counsellor, St. Oliver's College, Drogheda
Donal Toolan	Forum of People with Disabilities
Kathryn Raleigh	Director of the Irish Software Association, IBEC
Joe Horan	County Manager, South Dublin County Council
Peter Ryan	Assistant Secretary, Department of the Taoiseach

Reports published by the Second Information Society Commission include:

Learning in the 21st Century: Towards Personalisation, December 2004;

Ethics & Values in a Digital Age: Conference Proceedings, December 2004;

Learning to Innovate. Reperceiving the global Information Society, January 2005;

Survey Assessments of the Information Society in Ireland, By James Williams, Sylvia Blackwell, Brendan J. Whelan, ESRI, December 2004;

An eHealthy State?, December 2004;

21st Century Infrastructure, November 2004;

Current Perspectives on the Information Society, April 2004;

Ireland's Broadband Future, December 2003;

eGovernment — More than an automation of Government Services, October 2003;

eInclusion: expanding the Information Society in Ireland, October 2003;

Modernising Public Procurement, September 2003;

Delivering a World Class Payments Environment, June 2003;

Building the Knowledge Society, December 2002;

Building Trust through the Legal Framework, December 2002; and

Information Society Commission Business and General Public Survey, April 2003;

As recommended by the ISC in 2005, a review of our e-strategy is taking place. While the shape of that strategy has yet to be fully defined, it is clear that new approaches will be needed to support the transition taking place from the information society to the knowledge society. It is envisaged that the new strategy will require different structures for its implementation, as also envisaged by the ISC.