Address by Mr. Noel Treacy T.D., Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce, at the Inaugural Meeting of Western Branch of the Irish Internet Association, Galway Bay Hotel, on Tuesday 23rd November, 1999, at 8.00pm

This Government is giving ever increasing prioritisation to one of the most important and far reaching issues facing us today - that is the utilisation of information and communication technologies (ICT's) in order to benefit Irish business, Irish competitiveness and indeed Irish society. In particular, I think it's very important that we maximise the potential benefits that ICT's can bring in terms of regional, social and economic development.

We can already see some spectacular examples of E Commerce at work in this region. We have seen local traders become global players almost overnight. Malachy Kearns bodhrans in Roundstone and Kenny's bookshop are perfect local examples of how E- Commerce can bring traditional commerce to new heights. And I am sure that we are only a short step away from seeing server farms nestling side by side with our more traditional dairy farms.

The change processes being driven by ICT's, while demanding highly skilled workforces, have the potential to shift employment up the value chain regardless of sector, and to a certain extent make such employment more secure.

In the day-to-day interchanges of networked businesses and networked customers, entrepreneurial opportunities and innovative activities will evolve where value can be added in the supply of goods and services. The challenge for the software and telecommunications engineers, content developers and marketeers, is to be at the interface between enterprise and customers with market led e business solutions.

Companies and countries which fail to adapt to the new exigencies of the digital economy will be marginalised from it. To paraphrase the wisdom of the experts "in five years time there won't be any Internet companies because they will all be Internet companies or the won't be companies at all."

• access to broadband connectivity throughout the regions.
• creating the awareness, knowledge and skills necessary to create and fully exploit the opportunities in E-Commerce.
• creating a business and regulatory environment conducive to investment, innovation and entrepreneurship

In November, 1998, our Government authorised negotiations with prospective suppliers of global connectivity. Less than eight months later, agreement had been reached with one such supplier, Global Crossing.

This new state of the art telecommunications project will provide city to city broadband access to 24 European cites and to the USA. It will involve the construction by the middle of the year 2000 of 2 telecommunications cables to the UK and the potential capacity of the cable will be 15 times the international capacity out of Ireland at the moment.

In July of this year the Government announced, in conjunction with the international connectivity deal, an agreement of 9 contracts for the roll-out of broadband infrastructure to over 120 centres throughout this country.

This will provide for high capacity optical fibre to the west of Ireland including:

• Broadband access increased to 70% in the region.

  Installation of a 95km high capacity fibre optic cable along the west coast of Donegal from Bunbeg to Donegal town and from Dunfanaghy to Falcarragh serving all of the communities along the route.

• Provision of optical fibre and broadband access nodes to service 75 small urban centres from Sligo to Cork. It is expected that the percentage of rural customers with access to the national broadband network in the region will increase from 50% to 70% as a result of this new project.

• Optical Fibre deployment from Athlone to Claremorris, Ballina, Sligo and intermediate towns.
• Construction of a high capacity fibre optic digital corridor linking Dublin, Athlone, Galway and Shannon and 30 locations enroute, including Ballinasloe, Loughrea and Oranmore. This project will be launched on Thursday next and will commence immediately.

The roll-out of broadband infrastructure to the regions, scheduled for completion by June 2000, will significantly enhance the attractiveness of these areas from the perspective of attracting quality industry. The improvement in telecommunications infrastructure throughout the country has the potential to create new and varied opportunities for many people across Ireland.

Another positive development is the participation of FÁS in the recently launched FIT - Fast track to IT - an initiative by us, to help some 3,500 long-term unemployed persons to secure a job in the IT industry over three years as well as helping to meet emerging skill shortages.

The Bill will give parity of legal recognition and enforceability with conventional signatures to electronic signatures. It will cover related areas like electronic writing and it will also legislate for Electronic Signature Certification Services. The Bill will also provide legal certainty for the conclusion of contracts electronically and the admissibility in court of electronic evidence in civil cases.

We cannot of course speak of E-Commerce simply at the domestic level. It is a global medium, open and accessible all around the world. Clearly national solutions to the issue of regulation and standards are of limited effect. At EU level we are very happy to support the proposed E-Commerce Directive and it is our hope that Member States will be able to reach a common position on the Directive at the next meeting of the Internal Market Council in December next.

This new set of rules will underpin the internal market for E Commerce. We want to see the principle of the internal market affirmed for E commerce.

It is important for business that the markets are open and that Irish business can take advantage of this new trading tool to go further and access new markets. We do not want to see a new form of cyber- protectionism creeping in at European level. We see E-Commerce as an enormous opportunity not only for our own traders but also for the future competitiveness of Europe.

The inherently global nature of modern communication technologies will shrink the planet and do away with the obstacle of distance. This presents many opportunities for Ireland and, in particular, has the potential to transform this region. We must seize the initiative and embrace the new technologies. In this way we can consolidate and build further on our economic successes.