Mr. Eamon Ryan:
We have a very difficult job here today as legislators because we need to legislate for innovation, creativity and enterprise. It is difficult to establish the required conditions on a statutory basis.
I am a supporter of the digital hub project and always have been. I have to hold up my hand and say that I, along with members of the Government, was attracted by the possibilities of the project. I cheered the Taoiseach on as he started spending our money on this good idea. Two or three years later, the project has almost become symbolic of what has changed in our economy. I do not think we would possibly spend ?73 million today on the property we obtained, nor do I think we would be as flaithi?lach with the administration expenses on the project. The project serves as a metaphor for the way in which we mismanaged and blew our money in recent years. We spent a huge amount and, to date, there has been very little return.
We are in a period of change. The legislation allows us to recognise our changing circumstances and to try replot a new way forward. I am critical of the fact that, to date, the project has centred around administration, plans and proposals as opposed to enterprise. It is now very difficult for us to establish such enterprise on a statutory basis although it is what we need to do. This Bill does not achieve it. It says more about superannuation schemes and the disclosure of interests than about how we create an innovative centre.
I have some suggestions as to how to aid the agency in terms of enterprise and innovation, which I will introduce as amendments on Committee Stage if possible. I am disappointed that the Bill contains no real reference to MediaLab Europe, which is one of the main anchor tennants for the digital hub. One of the criticisms of the enterprise of the digital hub to date is the failure of MediaLab Europe to connect in with the rest of the city. It is slightly like a monastic site looking within at itself or across the Atlantic via its digital connection, but not looking around itself or attracting Irish entrepreneurs or small Irish companies in sufficient numbers. I think it recognises that a model that applies to the MIT in Massachusetts, where a small company is a small company is one with a staff of 500 or 600, has to be changed in the case Irish economy, where a small company can consist of two or three friends working in the back of a garage. The Bill should serve as an opportunity to reassess how MediaLab Europe is working and how it connects into Irish businesses and institutions, particularly educational institutions. I am disappointed that there is no reference to this in the Bill.
Ultimately, when talking about the digital hub, we have to consider how we help our entrepreneurs and business people. They are the innovators who will create the jobs and provide the resources. It is difficult because, under European competition rules, we cannot provide any of the tax incentives or grants systems we would have used in the past. We are left with very few tools.
Looking at the memorandum of the Bill, it is remarkable to realise that we have spent twice as much in 2001 and 2002 on administration of the project than we did on actual broadband infrastructure. Money was blown on consultants, coffee mornings, cheese and wine receptions and lovely, glossy reports, but very little was spent on the infrastructure that would be of some use to the businesses we are trying to attract. It is important that we change that focus.
As Deputy Upton said, it is important that we also have a strong connection to the local people and the local area. I lived in the area in question for five years. It is a very sensitive area and one of the few urban areas in Dublin that really works as such. I love walking down Meath Street, which is packed with pedestrians, and going into Jack Roche’s greengrocery where everybody talks to each other – this does not happen in other parts of Dublin. I love walking into Frawley’s on Thomas Street and into Manning’s for a cup of coffee afterwards. It is a vibrant area in which people live and shop and people go there from all over the city because it is so attractive. We must be careful how we look after it and develop it. We do not want to make the same mistakes we made in Temple Bar, where we killed the ethos. We need to link up with local people through primary and secondary schools.
I would like to see the functions of the agency broadened. It is incredible that there is not one mention of the word “education” in the description of the functions of the agency, as described in the Bill . Surely the concept of a digital hub is one where we link education and business. That is where one gets ideas and training from which one taps into the business potential. Neither is there any connection between the colleges of art and the digital hub, which would be a key connection in using creativity to help create enterprise and jobs. There is no reference to the immigrant community which is strong in this area and would bring in a diversity and linguistic ability as well as a different way of thinking which, again, would help ingenuity, creativity and innovation.
We do not want the digital hub agency to be a purely educational facility and while we are not going to create a new education establishment, we need to give an indication to the agency that it can help create educational connections, set up programmes or pull in expertise to bring in educational modules which will connect to the businesses and the local community, particularly the immigrant community. I am not just talking about local PR efforts with the local community, some nice gimmicky scheme where one uses some of the technology one is developing. That is not the real benefit, which is when we start educating people showing them the possibilities of technology and they come back with ideas for development. While I am concerned about young people we really need to focus on adults across a range of people in the community.
We also need to bring culture into it. There is no mention in the purpose or role of the agency to develop culture. I would love to see a clause in the Bill stating that the agency would organise a couple of parties every year for the people working and studying in the area. That would encourage the cross-creativity and connections that the hub is meant to provide. The agency should have a cultural function.
There should also be a much stronger connection to the local authority, with the involvement of at least two local authority members. There is reference throughout the Bill to the agency reporting back to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for this that and the other. The Minister for Finance has other things to do; this should be a locally-based project not something dominated by central Government.
I do not know which Minister is presenting the Bill – perhaps I should. It could be the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, but the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, suggests that it may be the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. It might have been the Minister of State, Deputy Hanafin, in front of me. I do not have a clue which section of Government is responsible for this area and this is a central flaw in Government information communications technology policy, which has no focus to it. I would love to see the Bill coming back at a later stage with a clear indication as to which part of Government is responsible
