The Limerick City Community ICT Steering Group Background Information

The Limerick City Community ICT Steering Group which was formed in 2001 is a network consisting of PAUL Partnership, the City of Limerick Vocational Educational Committee (CLVEC), and representatives from five community centres in socially and economically disadvantaged areas in Limerick City. The Group was formed in order ‘to promote and support collaborative and innovative approaches to the use of ICTs in communities ‘at risk’ of digital exclusion in Limerick City’. Limerick Employment Pact (LEP) also recognised the need to address what they saw as the growing ‘digital divide’ and the exclusion of disadvantaged communities in Limerick City from the information society. As little was known about the exact nature and extent of this form of exclusion locally, the Limerick City Community ICT Steering Group and the LEP commissioned Dr. Pat Bogue of Broadmore Research to undertake research that sought to identify ICT needs in disadvantaged communities within Limerick City and which would propose practical and innovative solutions that might be adopted by the Steering Group and other key stakeholders. This document presents a summary of the Research Report by Dr. Pat Bogue and will be launched by the ICT Steering group on the 4th April, 2008 in the Absolute Hotel.