Press release
Minister Troy welcomes Ireland’s strong performance in European digitalisation rankings
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy, today welcomed the news that Ireland has again turned in a strong performance in the DESI by holding on to its fifth place in the European Commission’s assessment of all 27 EU Member States.
The Index shows Ireland performed very well on all fronts, including for the following indicators:
After receiving this year’s positive DESI assessment, Minister Troy said:
"This is a fantastic endorsement of the approach we take in Ireland to digital transformation. This year’s DESI shows that Ireland has delivered tangible results in several areas, such as increasing our number of e-Government users. I am also pleased to see that our score for ICT graduates has increased. Other standout numbers are our take-up of mobile broadband and a significant increase in 5G coverage.
"As a Minister with responsibility for business, I am also delighted to see that we once again scored a perfect 100 for provision of digital public services to business. When read together these various scores paint a very positive picture of where Ireland is on our journey to digitalisation. But we must not be complacent. We operate in a fast and dynamic environment – we need to press ahead.
"Earlier this year I co-launched the new National Digital Strategy, announced the Go Digital Fund and had the pleasure of appointing Ireland’s first AI Ambassador, Dr Patricia Scanlon. I am determined to keep up the momentum and ensure we maintain Ireland’s position at the forefront of digitalisation in Europe."
Ireland’s position in the Index makes us a prominent member of the EU Digital 9+ (D9+) front-runner countries. The D9+ group is a loose affiliation of like-minded Member States on Digital Single Market issues, comprising the top-ranked European countries in the DESI.
The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) is a composite index that summarises four relevant indicators (Connectivity, Human Capital, Integration of Digital Technology , Digital Public Services) on Europe’s digital performance and tracks the evolution of EU member states in digital competitiveness.
Based on the 2022 methodology, Ireland ranks 5th in 2022, 5th in DESI 2021, 6th in DESI 2020, 6th DESI 2019, 8th DESI 2018 and DESI 2017 had Ireland ranked in 10th place.The DESI has been re-calculated for all countries for previous years to reflect the changes in the indicators and correction to the underlying data. Country scores and rankings may thus have changed compared with previous publications. For further information, please consult the DESI website: ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi
Ireland ranks very highly when it comes to the integration of digital technologies, mostly because many SMEs embraced e-commerce. Internet users increasingly take advantage of high-speed infrastructures and also make good use of online public services.
The connectivity dimension is showing positive trends across almost all indicators which is very encouraging. The State’s NBP intervention is now reaching scale and gaining real momentum and this, allied with strong commercial operator investment is beginning to deliver substantial benefits to Ireland and it citizens. Ireland 5G deployment is also making significant progress and this is set to further improve once additional spectrum is made available. Overall Ireland looks well positioned to be at the forefront of European and global digital developments and Ireland growing strength in digital connectivity will arm different sectors with the connectivity needed to fully exploit the digital opportunities in their respect areas.
The Commission made a number of changes to the 2022 edition of the DESI, to align DESI with the four cardinal points set out in the Commission proposal for a decision ‘Path to the Digital Decade Policy Programme’, to improve the methodology and to take account of the latest technological and policy developments.
In February 2022, the government launched its new National Digital Strategy Harnessing Digital , which supports Ireland’s goal of becoming a leader in European and global digital developments, while also placing a strong emphasis on inclusiveness, (cyber)security and safety. The strategy is aligned with EU priorities and includes sections covering: digital transformation of business, digital infrastructure, skills, and digitalisation of public services. It is also aligned with national priorities, under Ireland’s 2021 Economic Recovery Plan and Ireland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).
The Digital 9+ Countries (D9+) group is a loose affiliation of like-minded Member States on Single Market issues, comprising the top-ranked European countries in the European Commission annual Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI).