New Connections - A Strategy to realise the potential of the Information Society, March 2002

Foreword

Information Society developments are transforming the way we interact and do business. This transformation is bringing about the single most dynamic shift in the public policy environment in the history of the State. The pace of change is without precedent. 

The phrase Information Society refers to the increasing contemporary significance of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The unfolding influence of these technologies across all areas of economic and social activity in the twenty-first century is increasingly seen in terms parallel to electricity in the twentieth, and railroads in the nineteenth. 

The networking technologies of the Information Society allow new ways of interacting that challenge the boundaries of what is traditionally possible in terms of both time and location. We are living through an era where the full potential of these new possibilities is unfolding. The implications are generally accepted to be as far-reaching as those of the industrial revolution. 

We have seen the Information Society agenda take centre-stage at EU level. The Lisbon Summit in 2000 set the goal of establishing Europe as the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. A new eEurope strategy will be agreed at the Seville Summit in June of this year. 

We can expect to see the importance of the Information Society agenda increasingly reflected in other key areas too including through the social partnership process, and the institutional arrangements for North-South cooperation. 

Our engagement with the challenges and opportunities of this agenda is central to future economic and social development. We are experiencing a fundamental change in how business including the business of Government is conducted. 

We must also ensure that our approach is responsive to the influence of rapidly evolving technologies. The key to competitive advantage will be to retain the capacity to respond quickly to new developments in an environment of ongoing change. 

A supportive public policy environment is clearly critical to shaping our development as an Information Society. This Action Plan provides a strategic framework for renewed commitment to this agenda across all areas of Government. I am confident that it gives a solid basis to underpin future economic and social prosperity. 

Bertie Ahern

Taoiseach

NOTE:

In 1999, the Government published itsfirst Action Planfor the Information Society. This Action Plan entitled 'Implementing the Information Society in Ireland' set out a range of measures appropriate to the development of an Information Society in Ireland. It covered a number of broad areas: telecommunications infrastructure, development of electronic commerce and business opportunities, enabling measures, legislative measures, ICTs and delivery of public services, support areas where action is needed, and taking the work forward.

•  NewConnectionsMarch2002.pdf (732 KB)