Minister Donohoe publishes Digital for Good: Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap

Dublin City Libraries were delighted to welcome Minister for Public Expenditure NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, to Cabra Library this morning, for the publication of the Digital for Good: Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap.

Libraries are keen to support our communities to bridge the digital gap, from our youngest to our oldest members. Clodagh, Librarian at Cabra Library demonstrated some of the fantastic digital resources available for free at your library, including our eResources, the magic table and the C-Pen.  

Shane, from our Library in the Community team spoke to Minister Donohoe about outreach work with community groups, including a pilot project lending accessible Acorn tablets to residents of an older person’s complex, with additional support for residents as they explore and learn online. Acorn tablets will soon be available to borrow from a selection of branch libraries, thanks to funding from the 2023 Dormant Accounts Action Plan for Library Supports for Marginalised, Socially Excluded and Disadvantaged Communities.

Thanks to Minister Paschal Donohoe, proud member of Dublin City Libraries, for his support of libraries.  

Pictured: Dublin City Librarian Mairead Owens and Clodagh Kingston, Senior Librarian at Cabra Library, talk books with Minister Donohoe. 

About Digital for Good: Ireland's Digital Inclusion Roadmap

As digital technologies become increasingly woven into our daily lives, there is a risk that some people could be disadvantaged and therefore left behind. However, much work is progressing across government to achieve digital inclusion through better skills, access and infrastructure. 

Digital for Good: Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap brings this work together in a coherent manner and sets out key supplementary measures. This shows how Government continues to empower and support everyone to use digital services in a meaningful way. It is also in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals’ principle of “Leave No One Behind”.

The goals for the Roadmap are:

• To make Ireland one of the most digitally inclusive States in the EU; and
• That everyone should have the opportunity to use digital services, including digital public services, in a meaningful way.

Speaking at the publication, Minister Donohoe said: “I am delighted today to publish Digital for Good: Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap. There are many existing initiatives and supports being progressed that will directly contribute to improving digital inclusion through better skills, access and infrastructure, and reducing digital divides at national, local and community level right across the country. Digital for Good: Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap brings together this work in a coherent manner and sets out key supplementary measures.”

Minister Donohoe added: “I would like to thank in particular the representative groups that were consulted in preparation of the Roadmap for their engagement and valuable contributions.” 

The Roadmap also reflects the ask to public service bodies in the Public Service Transformation 2030 Strategy – Better Public Services, to identify and prioritise actions that support digital inclusion to make sure no one is left behind. 

Digital for Good: Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap uses the dimensions of the national digital strategy, Harnessing Digital – Digital Transformation of Business, Digital Infrastructure, Skills, and Digitalisation of Public Services – as the context to translate high-level commitments into measures aimed at achieving these outcomes.