Evanne Ní Chuilinn
Nominated by the Taoiseach · Fine Gael · Ireland
“When we talk about empowering girls and women in sport, putting them on a pedestal and making sure they are in the media and public eye, it is important to differentiate between celebrating Irish women in sport and giving out about what is wrong.”
“Today, we had the funding announcement for the women in sport programme. A total of €4 million is going into it. While this is something that happens every year, it is important to acknowledge it when it comes around because the moment we stop acknowledging and calling for it is the moment it falls off the agenda and no longer becomes a f…”
“Online platforms that say they are trying to promote women need to actually do so, rather than always giving out about what is wrong. I have seen social media companies complain and be outraged about something that happened to a woman in sport.”
“I was encouraged to see some of the detail in the Bill around the 125% increase in funding for offices located more than 15 km from the nearest post office. We have seen a couple of issues with post offices that have closed over the past couple of years. We had one close in Bluebell, in Dublin, a couple of years ago.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad for this very important legislation. It is a very short Bill but a very impactful one. The Postal and Telecommunications Services (Amendment) Bill 2026 amends the 1983 Act to provide a legal basis for increased State funding to support the nationwide post office network.”
“I am encouraged as well to see transactions up by 10%, which does bode well for the viability of the network. It shows that there is a continued use of the services by the public. I fully support this Bill. As was said, it is very short legislation but very impactful.”
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“Online platforms that say they are trying to promote women need to actually do so, rather than always giving out about what is wrong. I have seen social media companies complain and be outraged about something that happened to a woman in sport. On the same day, however, they could have been talking about a young Irish cricket player who got her first cap for Ireland or a young Irish swimmer who finally made the breakthrough with a national title. When we talk about women in sport, I want to make sure the visibility piece is proactive, positive and solution-focused, rather than populist and negative.”
“When we talk about empowering girls and women in sport, putting them on a pedestal and making sure they are in the media and public eye, it is important to differentiate between celebrating Irish women in sport and giving out about what is wrong. There are media and social media companies out there whose modus operandi online is to be outraged and give out about what is wrong. It is not to celebrate the wins, victories and achievements of young girls and women in sport. I want to make that distinction because it is important. If we are going to be populist online and look for clicks to go viral, then we are not being solution-focused or putting women and girls on a pedestal or making sure that visibility piece is achieved.”
“Today, we had the funding announcement for the women in sport programme. A total of €4 million is going into it. While this is something that happens every year, it is important to acknowledge it when it comes around because the moment we stop acknowledging and calling for it is the moment it falls off the agenda and no longer becomes a fund that we get to announce every year. This programme was introduced in 2005. Since then, ring-fenced funding has amounted to €30 million. There are a few pillars in the programme that this funding supports, including officiating and leadership, governance, participation and visibility. I want to make a point on visibility.”
“I am encouraged as well to see transactions up by 10%, which does bode well for the viability of the network. It shows that there is a continued use of the services by the public. I fully support this Bill. As was said, it is very short legislation but very impactful. I echo what Senator Comyn said about getting this through as swiftly as possible before the summer recess.”
“I was encouraged to see some of the detail in the Bill around the 125% increase in funding for offices located more than 15 km from the nearest post office. We have seen a couple of issues with post offices that have closed over the past couple of years. We had one close in Bluebell, in Dublin, a couple of years ago. The nearest one now is in Inchicore, which does not seem like a long way but for those who are older or perhaps not as mobile it is really important that those post offices that are serving extra communities get the extra funding. It is important to point out as well that the longer-term direction of the network will require a combination of State support like this and commercial innovation from An Post and, of course, continued use by the public of the services being provided by the post offices.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad for this very important legislation. It is a very short Bill but a very impactful one. The Postal and Telecommunications Services (Amendment) Bill 2026 amends the 1983 Act to provide a legal basis for increased State funding to support the nationwide post office network. We have spoken about this network quite a bit in the past 12 months in the Seanad. With the introduction of the extra funding, it authorises €75 million over a five-year period, which equates to €15 million annually. It will help An Post maintain its network, thereby ensuring it continues to meet the State's social and household service needs across Ireland. I hope that this funding will help to prevent further closures.”
“The Bill progresses the conversation on this topic by placing the focus on real, robust, enforceable verification, which is a marked improvement on the current box-ticking landscape we have already referenced. I know the Minister of State agrees on the need for a more robust approach, as is demonstrated by the development of a new tool that would achieve age verification without disclosing users' data by his Department. I hope that as a group of Senators and a group in the Oireachtas, we can work together to place that tool under this or similar legislative footing with the necessary amendments on Committee Stage.”
“However, I am concerned that in its current form the Bill would legislate for excessive disclosure of data to technology companies and impose an unnecessary requirement to hold this data for five years. In any age verification measure, we must ensure that any data disclosure requirement respects privacy rights and is proportionate to the risks involved. The Bill also does not utilise the expertise that already exists in our media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, with no role set out for Coimisiún na Meán. With some amendments we could, through this legislation, empower Coimisiún na Meán to take a much more active role in the enforcement of any age verification regulations.”
“The DSA puts an obligation on platforms to have robust age verification measures in place, and as recently as March of this year, the Commission initiated enforcement proceedings against four providers for failing to protect children from accessing pornography. It is clear, though, that there are still gaps in regard to the enforceability of these measures, as many of these platforms simply have a one-click verification process still in place. We cannot accept that that is robust, as the DSA prescribes. The Bill is a welcome addition to the regulatory framework but it does require some changes. This Bill is broadly welcome and seeks to legislate for a far more robust framework for regulating age verification that will be an improvement on simple, one-click measures which are currently the norm.”
“The Bill also aligns with recommendation 4 on combating image-based abuse by explicitly referencing the generation of pornographic material, which would cover AI-generated content, ensuring that children do not have access to harmful AI-generated pornographic content. There is, as the Minister of State will know, a legislative and regulatory framework in place at European and national level that has made significant progress in recent years. The Digital Services Act, DSA, is a landmark piece of European legislation that acknowledges that, as a Union, we must act to ensure safety for all, but especially children, in the digital space.”
“If we ask ourselves why we need to act, there is a clear link between exposure to pornography - in particular, violent pornography - and increased sexual violence, distorted sexual expectations as well as increasing misogynistic attitudes. These links are clear for all who have problematic pornography use, but especially so for our children who are becoming exposed to pornography at increasingly younger ages. The Bill aligns with the recommendations of the joint Oireachtas committee to implement an age classification system. I welcome this. Our committee spent months discussing these and other issues with experts, advocacy groups, children's rights advocates and technology companies themselves.”
“This Bill seeks to achieve this, so I commend the Senator for his work on it. Pornography is becoming more, not less, accessible for children as companies increasingly find new and innovative ways of producing, promoting and disseminating adult content across not just traditional websites, but otherwise normal platforms and social media websites as well. These platforms claim to have robust systems and measures in place, but very often, these measures are really just you ticking a box or filling out a form where you can say you are over 18. We have to do more and this Bill advances that policy conversation. It should be welcomed for that reason.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach. I welcome my guests to the Gallery. We are talking about the safety of children, minors and juveniles but these women have been keeping my children and the children of Crumlin safe for decades. I hope they have a meal later on in the restaurant. I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber for this debate and congratulate Senator Mullen on his Bill, which is progressing nicely. I welcome the premise of the Bill. It aligns with the work of the joint Oireachtas committee on media and communications, with components of our recent report, as the Senator and Minister of State know, on online safety, regulation and participation. We have to stop these huge online platforms having unfettered access to our children and promoting material that is harmful and dangerous.”
“I want to know what senior gardaí are doing - not just local gardaí, who are firefighting, frankly - in terms of the strategy and what extra funding is going in for youth engagement and youth work in Cherry Orchard, not just from a criminal point of view.”
“A new general manager came in and is fantastic. She is not an Irish person. Last Wednesday night after a concert at the school, she was surrounded by people on scramblers and on foot. She was dragged from her car and assaulted. She has what has been described as a significant laceration to her face. She is only a couple of weeks into this job. It is an exciting job and she is well qualified but she does not feel welcome in Cherry Orchard. I cannot believe I found out about this on Saturday night, four days after it happened, through the chair of the school. I did not see it in any media or discussed anywhere. If it was anywhere other than Cherry Orchard, it would be everywhere. I have reached out to the Minister. I want to know what the justice Minister is doing.”
“Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Seanadóir Ahearn. He said to me when I first came into the Seanad that he hoped his mam would be proud. I think it is fair to say she always was and definitely is. I congratulate him on his new role. It is great to have his family here to celebrate. I raise something that was brought to my attention on Saturday night - four nights after it actually happened, which in itself is shocking. There is a national school in Cherry Orchard called St. Ultans. It is an integrated care and education setting, one of very few in Europe. It is not just a school but also a care centre. It has a preschool and an after-school but also has many therapies available on-site for needs in the area. Because it is not just a school, it has a general manager. Sue Menton did a brilliant job over a number of years but she has retired.”
“I welcome the inquiry and investigation launched this week by the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, which went to Cabinet yesterday. I look forward to our rowers and former rowers engaging with the process and accepting the findings of the report.”
“I encourage all of the rowers, former rowers, parents and family members of rowers who have been emailing me in their droves, to now get in touch with the investigation and Amanda Bennett. This is the avenue to be heard, first, but also to be spoken to. There will be interviews happening all summer and then the chair of the inquiry, Amanda Bennett, will report back to the Minister. I have asked that the terms of reference of the inquiry be wide enough that the findings of the report will be applicable to the wider landscape in sport because we have work to do on the safeguarding of our athletes elsewhere. Rowing, rather than being an isolated problem, is probably the tip of the iceberg, and we need to be aware of that. As I keep saying in the House, we need a sport integrity unit. I hope that will come out of the findings of this report.”
“This is really encouraging because these athletes have been waiting for movement on this. There was a bit of momentum at the beginning of the year but this inquiry will begin. Amanda Bennett will not be known to a lot of people in Ireland, which is probably a good thing because it needs to be an independent inquiry. She is a governance expert. She is the former head of governance at UK Sport. She has literally written the book on sport governance. I would be the first person to be giving out if we had not picked the right person but this is a very positive moment for Irish sport, its integrity and the safeguarding of our athletes, which is what I will always go back to.”
“Last January, we heard an awful lot of fairly shocking evidence at the Oireachtas joint committee on sport in both public and private sessions, in relation to Rowing Ireland and the practices of the high-performance programme over the past five years in Cork and around the country. Off the back of those hearings, both public and private, the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, announced that an independent inquiry would be launched into what transpired and how to prevent athletes from going through similar circumstances when they are representing Ireland and training for that. I welcome the news this week that an independent inquiry will begin. It has been set in motion. Amanda Bennett will chair the inquiry. It will begin immediately and a report will be published at the end of this calendar year.”
“It is essential the public can see where this money goes and that smaller and local outlets have fair access to public advertising opportunities. The Bill significantly expands the role of Coimisiún na Meán. It will maintain a national media ownership database and develop shared codes for audience measurement, including for online platforms where metrics are often opaque. These steps enhance transparency, support competition and strengthen public trust. The provisions in this Bill are proportionate, practical and necessary. They protect media plurality, ensure transparency in State advertising and guard against the over-concentration of media power. They do so without placing undue burdens on media organisations, instead focusing on safeguarding the public interest and maintaining trust in our media landscape.”
“In an age of algorithms and disinformation, the integrity of RTÉ's news and current affairs output is more important than ever. Journalists, editors, news programme co-ordinators, NCOs, reporters and programme makers in the RTÉ newsroom and RTÉ news and current affairs have continued to uphold high standards, even when reporting on difficult issues within their own organisation. Their professionalism strengthens our democracy and they deserve recognition. I want to put that on the record of the Seanad. This Bill also introduces new transparency requirements for public advertising. With digital platforms capturing an increasing share of advertising revenue, public spending now plays a more significant role in sustaining media organisations.”
“While Ireland has already strong safeguards in place, this Bill aligns us fully with EU standards, as the Minister of State has said, and updates our regulatory framework for the digital era. A central provision is the shift of media merger oversight to Coimisiún na Meán. This will help ensure that no individual or conglomerate can accumulate disproportionate influence. For decades, people in Ireland have been able to rely on a wide variety of media sources - print, broadcast and digital. Protecting that diversity is essential for public discourse and for democracy itself. We cannot assume we are immune to the polarisation seen elsewhere. Our shared facts, our trusted institutions and our broad media plurality are strengths worth protecting. In that context, I want to acknowledge the vital role of our public service broadcaster.”
“Third, it empowers Coimisiún na Meán to develop new standards for audience measurement and to maintain a public database of media ownership. These are common-sense measures that work together to protect plurality, prevent dominance by any one organisation and ensure that public spending on advertising is transparent and equitable. Ireland has long benefited from a media environment that is trusted and broadly non-polarised. This Bill helps to safeguard that environment at a time where many other countries are grappling with deeply divided and partisan media ecosystems. Under the European Media Freedom Act, Ireland must strengthen protections for journalistic sources, safeguard the independence of public service media, ensure transparency of ownership and standardise procedures for media mergers and audience measurement.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá sé iontach go bhfuil sé anseo chun an Bille seo a phlé. This Bill is an important step in ensuring Ireland continues to have a viable, dynamic and trusted media landscape. It gives legislative effect to the European Media Freedom Act and strengthens the protections that underpin media independence and public trust. The Bill introduces several key reforms. First, it transfers responsibility for overseeing media mergers from the Minister to Coimisiún na Meán, with new criteria to prevent excessive concentration of ownership. That is something that Senator Mullen has just touched on. Second, it requires the Departments and State agencies to publish annual reports on their advertising expenditure, ensuring transparency and fairness in how public money is allocated.”
“Having said that, however, we are definitely moving towards understanding that we need to be a little bit more proactive instead of reactive in terms of safeguarding our athletes. I want to mention one other thing before I go because I did mention Gymnastics Ireland. I want to congratulate 13-year-old JJ Peters from Douglas Gymnastics Club who competed at her first international competition this week in Slovenia for Ireland. She is 13 years of age in a high-performance programme and she finished eleventh out of 86 gymnasts across Europe. I want to call that out and say well done. Gymnastics Ireland obviously has a pathway that is working very well at the moment. I congratulate JJ on her first time competing for Ireland at just 13 years of age.”
“She reiterated that call at the committee, as did I, when we heard evidence of what had transpired and could have been better dealt with - maybe even avoided - at the Rowing Ireland high-performance programme. That was why I was encouraged to see news yesterday of a post boarded by the Federation of Irish Sport for an athlete support executive. It is 30 hour per week position and is certainly a step in the right direction for the safeguarding and welfare of our athletes. Gymnastics Ireland also advertised for an athlete framework service manager, so I really think we are going in the right direction. We need to go further long term. We need a sports integrity unit.”
“On 28 January, we at the Oireachtas joint committee on sport heard about safeguarding in sport. We heard from Sport Ireland, Rowing Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport. There was one athlete manager in place, as we learned from the federation at the time. This one individual at the federation was the only person athletes could go to with concerns around training, balancing sport with commitments to education or anything else. It is a broad remit. The CEO of the federation, Mary O'Connor, told us that athlete support manager could be dealing with up to 250 high-performance athletes at one time across 25 national governing bodies. The CEO had been appealing to Sport Ireland for one more athlete support manager - or many more athlete support managers - for quite some time.”
“All it has done is to increase the number of conversations that are happening outside the sport and the women's match taking place tonight. No Irish team, men's or women's, has ever qualified for a World Cup through the direct route. That is what is at stake tonight for Carla Ward's team. I send my best wishes and good luck. I have pride in the Irish women's national team. I hope, and know they will, continue to do us proud. I hope they know that we will all be behind them at 7.30 p.m.”
“I want to speak today about football. We have an Irish team preparing for possibly one of the biggest nights in Irish football and possibly one of the biggest nights in global football. We have a potential shock on the cards - perhaps "shock" should be in inverted commas - for the Irish women's team in France tonight. It is an enormous game. It is at 7.30 p.m. I want everyone to watch the football at 7.30 p.m. Those women have put their lives into this campaign, this game and this sport. We are not talking about or watching them enough. We are not putting them up on a pedestal. It is important that we do so this week. I was disappointed that the FAI released a statement yesterday, stating that it will not talk any more about this other football matter until the match tonight is over.”
“I urge the Minister of State to ensure that sporting, community and voluntary organisations are specifically considered in the action plan implementation in order that reform is judged on whether they can obtain affordable and usable public liability cover. Could he take away the issues raised in the BDO report commissioned by the Department of rural and community development in 2023 on public liability insurance costs and the availability of insurance to the community and voluntary sector? It would be useful to establish whether the report has been finalised, if it has informed the insurance reform agenda across government and whether it can now be published.”
“That example shows why this matters. The reforms delivered in recent years are welcome but the practical test is whether clubs and community organisations can obtain affordable and usable public liability cover. As Senator Nelson Murray has pointed out, competition is a serious part of the problem. In many areas of public liability insurance, sports bodies, charities, community groups and voluntary organisations have very limited realistic options. If there are only one or two underwriters willing to quote or if cover comes with high excesses and exclusions, then the organisation may technically have insurance but not in a way that is genuinely usable. The consequence is not just a higher bill but fewer events and activities and more risk being carried by volunteers and less opportunity for people to participate.”
“I wish to raise the impact of insurance on sports, community participation and voluntary activity. This is something that my colleague, Senator Nelson Murray, has raised and I will expand on it. Public liability insurance is not an abstract cost for sports clubs and community organisations. It affects whether training can happen; whether events can go ahead; whether volunteers can be supported; and whether facilities can open to the public. Recently, a small GAA club in east Galway had to find almost €7,000 to pay its insurance premium. It was a 20% increase on the previous year, despite having no claims in that period. Insurance now accounts for around 12% of that club's total annual revenue. For a volunteer-run organisation, that is money that cannot be spent on underage coaching, facilities or even jerseys.”
“I call for a review of the Sport Ireland Act 2015 and a look at what legislation we need to amend. Further to that, we need to look at what is being done internationally. Canada, New Zealand and Australia have all legislated for a sport integrity unit and I want to discuss that with the Minister, perhaps at committee level, but certainly in this Chamber, because we are dropping the ball on safeguarding our athletes.”
“Unfortunately, my inbox is inundated with concerns and complaints and various stories, which are anecdotal at this point, about children, young people and adults being let down, primarily by the system. However, at a granular level, they are being let down by coaches and administration. It is incumbent on us as legislators to keep an eye on it and to fix it, if at all possible. We have had some discussions at committee level about safeguarding. We still do not have any of the answers to the questions we asked the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, the last time it appeared before the Oireachtas joint committee and we are still awaiting the outcome of an independent investigation into what happened at Rowing Ireland. Clearly, there are failings and weaknesses and we need to address them.”
“I congratulate Senator Nicole Ryan on the birth of her baby. We are not sure of the name - it might be Réaltín - but we express our congratulations and hope she is enjoying the newborn bubble. I will raise something I have spoken about in this Chamber before related to safeguarding in sport. There was another story in the newspaper last weekend about athlete welfare and safeguarding. This time it was to do with ladies football and alleged racist abuse on the field of play. Unfortunately, it is just another example of how we are still dropping the ball - forgive the pun - on protecting our athletes, safeguarding them and upholding athlete welfare across all sports. Last weekend, it was ladies football. Another weekend it will be rowing, tennis or athletics.”
“I thank the Minister of State for that update. This is the beginning of a debate we could have at a broader level across the House. There seem to be a lot of Senators who would like to contribute to a debate on inclusion in sport. That would be welcome. We might approach the Cathaoirleach about that. The Minister of State mentioned the next national sports strategy, which will run from 2028 onwards. It will be really important to have some of those points he highlighted included in the next policy. We should examine other issues that have come up recently in relation to safeguarding, particularly when we are looking at disability in sport.”
“Young people need to know what is possible. As a result, we need to see our Paralympic stars celebrated. That argument could also be made for many marginalised groups. Seeing is believing. If we do not actively promote sport in our LGBTQ+ community, our Travelling community and other communities, we will lose sight of them. My colleague Senator Harmon will focus on that now.”
“Many sports clubs have special group sessions for autistic children, for example, but because of the duty of care around children who may be a flight risk, clubs need to have a safe, fenced off space to let the children hone their skills and have some fun. It would be encouraging to see community sports facilities fund applications being given priority, particularly as the aim behind that fund is to cater for those groups. The word "visibility" may be misplaced here, but it is so important that those in print and broadcast media ensure that para-athletes are celebrated and acknowledged as much as our Olympians. There is an argument to be made - it was made by the relevant committee in its report - that the Paralympics. which are held every four years, should not be the only time we see disability sport on television or social media.”
“I should point out that Ireland won six medals at the Paris Paralympic Summer Games in 2024. All six were won by vision-impaired Paralympians. It is important that funding follows this success and that sport is presented as a realistic opportunity for children with vision impairment. We are approaching Mayfest, which is VSI's annual come and try event where people who are blind or vision impaired have the opportunity to try sports like football, golf or tennis, so I encourage people to engage with that event. It will be held on 16 May in Dublin. The next round of sport capital funding is approaching fast. I ask the Minister of State to consider whether projects that favour the inclusion of sport for all groups can be prioritised.”
“It is important that we do not lose sight of the intended supports, and I encourage all national governing bodies to produce spend against reports in order that Sport Ireland can ensure that the ring-fenced funding to which I refer is being spent as intended. I recently met representatives of Vision Sports Ireland, VSI. One of the greatest barriers they face in the context of sport and physical activity is the vetting procedure and how long it takes. Unlike other sports where children, for example, need a coach to child ratio of 1:15, a vision-impaired athlete will often require one-to-one coaching. VSI cannot accept walk-ins or casual volunteers, even if they are vetted by another sporting organisation, and this is hampering their delivery of sports. As a result, a streamlined and centralised vetting service may be of benefit.”
“Gabhaimid buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as a bheith anseo don díospóireacht seo. It is rare that you will see Senators from both sides of the House take a take a joint Commencement matter, but an rud is annamh is iontach. Senator Harmon and I believe that inclusion in sport is not party political, and we tabled this matter together as a reflection of real inclusion. We have reached a point where women's sport is no longer what could be described as a minority sport. Increased and sustained ring-fenced funding from the Department is to be acknowledged. The amount of €4 million provided in 2025 was double what was made available in 2022, so the trajectory is positive.”
“I congratulate their captain, Amaya, and their principal, Geoff, and all of their teachers who are really ag snámh in aghaidh easa. With no facilities, but absolute passion and joy for sport and for football, they are really swimming against the tide down there. What it is doing for those children is absolutely brilliant. As I said on Tuesday, we are failing them in that we have no sports facilities for those children in the south-west inner city. Senators will be sick of me talking about it, because I will raising regularly in this House and in other fora as well. I congratulate St. Audoen's girls' football team for winning the league yesterday.”
“On Tuesday, I spoke in this House about the lack of sporting facilities in Dublin 8. I was speaking particularly about a school, St. Audoen's National School, in Dublin 8, that I visited on Tuesday morning. While it is important to point out what is wrong and the lack of access to facilities, it is really important to also point out and celebrate what is good. I got word this morning that the St. Audoen's girls' football team that I spoke about on Tuesday won their final league match yesterday against John Scottus in the 8C league of the FAI and they have won the league. A school with no pitch or facilities but just passion for football, brilliant teachers and brilliant players has risen to the top of its FAI league.”
“This is to ensure that in the same way the NBP eliminates geography as a barrier to the digital world, we will not let age become a barrier to accessing these vital technologies. I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad today for this debate, and I look forward to the rest of the discussion.”
“It is a plan that Fine Gael started, supported and backed every step of the way because we believe that if we are to continue to lead in new technologies and take advantage of the opportunities new technologies like AI present, these opportunities must be available for everyone in our society. The NBP does this by providing reliable, high-speed, future-proofed broadband connection to over 570,000 premises. The investment is paying off already, with connection rates of 60% in the areas first passed by NBI. However, we must ensure we are not only putting the infrastructure in place but empowering people with the skills and literacy they need to utilise this digital connectivity through our national digital literacy strategy, targeted especially at generations that are not digitally native.”
“We have invested in technology and the network to allow people to access the Internet, but we must now invest in our people. We must invest in their digital skills and literacy so that they can fully utilise the benefits of the high-speed broadband we have invested so much money in. There is no doubt the NBP is one of the most significant investments in the history of the State to support rural communities. It is a transformative infrastructural project that will connect communities for generations to come and will reduce the digital divide between urban and rural.”
“It is not right or fair that we would continue to digitise our public and many other services without also providing the knowledge and skills base for people. I appreciate that considerable effort is being made across the Departments of children and education under Ireland's Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy 2024-2033 to ensure every young person has the digital literacy to thrive in their educational and social spaces, but there is still a fundamental gap in literacy rates. Many organisations do great work in providing digital literacy resources for older people, including Age Action, Age Friendly Ireland and many local authorities through our public library network, but this must be supported by an overarching Government strategy, which is simply not there yet.”
“As we continue to digitise our public services with applications for public grants, payments and other schemes increasingly focusing on online application platforms, we must make sure that nobody is left behind without the basic digital literacy to access these public services. While the access to broadband may be there, there is still a body of work to be done to improve overall digital literacy rates. We know there is a generational gap in digital literacy, with younger, digitally native generations being streets ahead of older generations. This is not just an older person's issue; there are many people who lack the digital skills necessary to properly navigate the digital space and we must also now invest in people's ability to access digital technology.”
“The NBP roll-out now means that wherever you want to start a business, you will have access to high-speed broadband, supporting innovation and job creation in every community, not just concentrated in our bigger towns and cities. According to the EU Commission's Digital Decade country report, we are exceeding EU averages in infrastructure roll-out, with 90% 5G coverage and 74% of premises able to avail of fibre broadband. The NBP has positioned us to take advantage of the opportunities for future business creation in the AI, cybersecurity and other new technology spaces and allows us to continue leading in the digital era with domestic home-rown businesses.”