Ireland’s Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte has revealed €1.4m in grant opportunities for digital skills trainers under the new BenefIT training scheme.
“In order to help citizens get the skills they need to avail of internet services, I am today announcing a call for proposals from community organisations to help us deliver a scheme for digital skills training, called BenefIT 4,” Rabbitte said.
The minister added that under the scheme, his department will spend €1.4m over the next 12 months to help the digitally excluded get online.
“We have already providing training for almost 90,000 people under previous benefit schemes but the work is by no means finished,” Rabbitte said.
The scheme is open to community, voluntary and not-for-profit organisations who can provide the relevant digital skills training in the Republic of Ireland.
Details of the scheme, including who is eligible to apply, how applications will be evaluated, and an application form are available online.
At least one in five adults in Ireland has never used the internet. The BenefIT schemes aim to close this gap even further by offering, through community and voluntary organisations, practical training in the digital skills.
BenefIT 4 builds on the previous three BenefIT schemes. BenefIT 3 is now coming to a close across Ireland. By March 2013, it provided training to more than 34,500 people at about 700 locations, involving more than 200 organisations.
