Address by Mr. Noel Treacy T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce at Telework's Ireland Seventh National Conference "Prospering in the Knowledge Economy"in the Tullamore Court Hotel on 12th November 1999 at 9.30 a.m.

I am personally very pleased to have been asked back again this year to address Telework Ireland's National Conference once again. In this particular year I have substantial progress to report on the development of teleworking opportunities in Ireland.

I would like to start by extending a warm Irish welcome to our overseas visitors here today, from Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, England and Scotland. That they have travelled so far to be here today is testament to Telework Ireland's reputation abroad.

Last year, I informed you about the National Advisory Council on Teleworking which I had established the previous April. I outlined the reasons that I had made that decision and how the National Council's work was progressing. Since then, the Council have invested substantial time and effort which has culminated in the publication of their Report entitled "New Ways of Living and Working - Teleworking in Ireland". This excellent Report was presented to me in June of this year. Included with it is a Code of Practice on Teleworking which has since received significant interest from within Ireland and all over Europe. The Report was received so well in Europe that I was asked to participate in the European Telework Conference in Denmark in September last. Due to other commitments, I was unable to attend in person but I made a video presentation to the conference. I understand that the participants were very impressed with the results of the Council's work which I detailed to the European Conference.

With the assistance of Officers from our Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment I have since been working on formulating a strategy to ensure progress in implementing the many recommendations in the Report. One of the main recommendations in the Report is that a Telework Action Forum should be established to initiate, monitor, evaluate and support issues related to teleworking.

I believe that a Forum will also provide the ideal mechanism to monitor and progress implementation of the other recommendations in the Report. With this in mind, I launched the Telework Action Forum and attended its first meeting on Tuesday last.

The new All-Ireland Forum includes representatives from business, unions, academia, Government, individual teleworkers and regional interests. Telework Ireland are well represented by Ms. Riona Carroll, your Executive Director and M/s. Joe McCormack, Gerry McGovern and Liam Breslin. There is also representation from the Corporate members of Telework Ireland - Mr. Kevin Sweeney from Agilent Technologies (formerly of Hewlett Packard), Mr. Michael Gaffney from Nortel and Mr. John Brady from Enterprise Ireland.

Mr William Burgess, Managing Director of IBM Ireland, has agreed to chair the new Forum. I am extremely grateful that he has agreed to give his valuable time to this initiative as I know that he has a very busy schedule being responsible for the management of a company employing 3,500 people here in Ireland.

The reason I chose him is that I am aware of his great interest in this subject and I believe that his tremendous business acumen can contribute greatly to the work of the Forum.

I wish, also, to thank all the other members of the Forum many of whom served on the National Council and who have already contributed significantly to this initiative. In particular, I sincerely thank all of the members of the National Advisory Council for their great work in producing an outstanding Report.

The enthusiasm with which my invitations to serve on the Forum were received is evidence of the fact that the time is now right to seriously consider new ways of working, as an answer to many of today's problems. Teleworking has the potential to increase business competitiveness by addressing specific competitiveness issues related to input costs, skill availability and retention, market entry issues and new business opportunities. At the same time, increased incidence of teleworking can address social exclusion, rural degeneration, traffic congestion and overcrowding in our major cities and towns.

Tuesday's meeting of the Forum was very productive. Its modus operandi has been defined and a strategy for pursuing the implementation of the recommendations in the Report is being formulated. I wish the Forum every success with their work and look forward to reports on their progress.

I am delighted to be able to announce, today, that we have been successful in securing £500,000 from the European-Union funded Small Business Operational Programme for a Business Teleworking Development Strategy. The Forum has endorsed the proposal for the Strategy which has been developed, at my request, by Enterprise Ireland. It is an excellent Strategy which encompasses many of the recommendations in the NACT Report.

The aim of the Strategy is to promote awareness and drive the development of business teleworking opportunities nationally. It will build on collaboration with leading players – commercial, institutional and public - in the existing teleworking environment. The extensive experience of Enterprise Ireland in the area of information product development, help desk support, Internet development and training will be brought to bear.

The core activities foreseen for the strategy are a Help Desk and supporting information products, case studies to illustrate best practice, surveys, an internet-based support service and a recruitment forum.

Also included will be a training network, a branding and accreditation process, targeting of suitable media opportunities and conducting an annual review of the state of development of the telework market will also be included for consideration by the Forum.

I can guarantee you that I am taking this issue very seriously and will be pushing every door at every opportunity. Our Department will be following up on the recommendations in the NACT Report. With the help of the advice and expertise of the new Forum I am confident I will have significant progress to report to you by this time next year.

I see from the programme that you have a busy schedule for the remainder of the day. I wish you a very productive and enjoyable conference and I look forward to seeing you again next year.