Minister White welcomes Labour’s plan for the digital economy

“As Minister for Communications, I am hugely aware of the importance of the digital sector to Ireland’s future prosperity. Digital activity already accounts for more than 5% of our economic activity, and supports around 100,000 jobs. That’s why it’s so important for political parties to have a clear, thought-out approach for this area.

“Before Labour entered Government, just 300,000 premises had access to high-speed broadband. Today that figure is over 1.3 million. Labour will complete the implementation of the National Broadband Plan, which is on track to deliver high-quality broadband access to every home, school and business in Ireland.

Minister White said he looked forward to continued positive engagement and co-operation with industry. “Through the combination of industry and State investment, we will ensure that 85% of premises in Ireland will have access to high speed broadband by 2018, with 100% access by 2020,” he said.

If returned to Government, Labour will continue the development of Ireland as a digital society through a renewed National Digital Strategy. This will involve accelerating direct digital investment in areas as diverse as health and education, transport, energy and agriculture. Labour will promote Ireland as the natural location of choice for ICT businesses to bring even more cutting-edge technology jobs to our shores.

Minister White said: “Labour also has a firm commitment to using digital technology to improve government services and citizen interaction with the State. We will launch a free and secure Digital Portal that will give every citizen a single point of communication with all Government services, resulting in a far simpler system that reduces unnecessary duplication of information and saves time and cost.

“Labour has a strong plan for the future of the digital economy in Ireland. If returned to Government, we will continue to harness the best of new technology to strengthen our economy and improve the services that our people rely on.”

A link to the document is available here: https://www.labour.ie/manifesto/the-digital-economy/