“Many Irish businesses are losing customers every day because they have not embraced digital technologies,” said Dr. Stephen Brennan, director of marketing and strategy of the Digital Hub at the launch of a new project aimed at getting Irish businesses online.
Dr. Brennan said there are at least 30,000 businesses in Ireland that need to get online in order to compete effectively in the 21st Century marketplace.
“It’s shocking to think that thousands of small businesses still don’t have a web presence,” said Dr. Brennan. “Recent research shows that when Irish consumers go online to look for a product or service, 70% of them fail to find what they’re looking for in Ireland. This compares to less that 10% in the UK. Irish people spent over €2.1 billion online in 2009, but most of this went outside the country. Our indigenous small businesses have yet to wake up to the growing importance of being online.
Paul Dunne, director of the Digital Skills Academy, said 200 people who are currently unemployed will be given training and work placements in the initial phase of the project. “We are inviting people who are currently unemployed to apply to take part in an 18-week training programme in digital skills,” said Dunne. “They spend six weeks receiving ‘in-centre’ training and the remaining 12 weeks on structured work placements, building websites for small businesses involved in the project and helping them to establish an online presence.”
The training programme will begin in August. To find out more about the project, or to apply to get involved, go to: www.webactivate.ie.
The WebActivate project – an initiative of the Digital Skills Academy – is supported by The Digital Hub, as well as Chambers of Commerce and Further Education institutions throughout Ireland.
The project is being run as part of the Labour Market Activation Fund 2010, funded by the Department of Education and Skills and the European Social Fund.

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