Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which he envisages cloud computing to become of major commercial impact with particular reference to economic recovery and job creation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22196/12]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Cloud computing is one of the key target sectors identified in the Government's Action Plan for Jobs. The Plan outlines the opportunities that cloud computing presents for Ireland arising from the global growth of the cloud computing sector in terms of attracting further foreign direct investment (FDI), supporting the emergence of start- up companies providing technology solutions and services via cloud computing, and, stimulating the use of cloud computing by SMEs and start-up companies. It also acknowledges that key challenges relating to the need for high speed broadband, energy cost competitiveness and access to a supply of skilled workers must be addressed for these opportunities to be exploited to the full.

The Action Plan outlines a number of specific actions for implementation in 2012 to ensure that Ireland can reap the substantial benefits in terms of jobs and growth from the global expansion of cloud computing. One of these has already been implemented following my announcement last month of the €1.2 million industry led Cloud Computing Research Centre which is being funded by Government. This centre brings together a team of researchers from DCU, UCC and Athlone Institute of Technology, with a cohort of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland companies, to establish ways to generate business from cloud computing. One of the priority objectives for the team is to conduct research on maintaining and managing cloud based applications for businesses of all sizes.

A number of other actions, which are designed to ensure that Ireland can fully exploit the employment potential offered by cloud computing, will be implemented throughout this year in accordance with the Action Plan. These include:

· examining the potential for demonstration projects in cloud computing to promote Ireland as a centre of excellence for this technology, provide a reference site for Irish companies, while potentially lowering costs and improving services;

· supporting industry groups, such as the Irish Software Association, to develop and deliver a practical tool kit to assist SMEs in assessing the adoption of Cloud Computing for their business;

· supporting research groups in areas of relevance to exploitation of cloud computing, such as semantic web and financial stock analysis, through, for example, support for the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI). In other areas, such as middleware, information security, distributed computing, researchers are furthering research in this area with direct application in the cloud computing context;

· ensuring that the ICT Skills Action Plan, which is being implemented to address the shortage in ICT skills, incorporates the needs associated with the development of cloud computing in Ireland; and,

· Developing a Cloud Computing Procurement Standard with Industry experts through an NSAI Standards group.

Progress reports on all of these actions will be provided on a quarterly basis throughout the year.