THE NUMBER of Irish households with a broadband internet connection has more than doubled in a year, and now stands at almost 31 per cent of all households.
But broadband penetration in Ireland still lags significantly behind the EU average, while there are significant geographical variations.
Research released by the Central Statistics Office yesterday revealed that 57 per cent of Irish households - or some 865,000 homes - had access to the internet in the first quarter of 2007.
But only 54 per cent of these had a broadband connection, compared with the EU 27 average of 77 per cent, although for the first time more homes are now connected through broadband than by other means.
Almost two in three households (approximately one million homes) now have a home computer, an increase of more than 130,000 in a year, according to the research. However, more than one in 10 (13 per cent) of these were not connected to the internet.
Similarly, while the total number of households with a broadband connection increased to 31 per cent by the first quarter of last year - compared with just 13 per cent 12 months earlier - there remained major variations among the different regions.
For example, the figures reveal that just 15 per cent of households in the Border, midlands and western region (BMW) had a broadband connection in the first quarter of 2007. This compares with 37 per cent of households in the southern and eastern (SE) region, including Cork and Dublin.
"In 2007, almost 50 per cent of households with an internet connection that did not have a broadband connection indicated that [ this was] because it was not available in their area," the report says.
"On a regional level, over 67 per cent of these internet connected, but not broadband connected, households in the BMW region indicated that broadband was not available in their area, compared to 40 per cent in the SE region."
Broadband use by Irish businesses also continues to fall significantly short of the EU average, the research notes.
For example, while 68 per cent of Irish enterprises used broadband - up from 61 per cent in 2006 - this compares with an EU average of 77 per cent.
Almost two-thirds of enterprises now have a home page or a website.
John McElligott, managing director of eBay Ireland, said he welcomed any increase in broadband penetration in Ireland. However, he said there was a "glaring" complacency surrounding the debate on the issue.
"Availability, cost and quality are the three things we look at," he said. "If availability is improving, I think that is wonderful. But we have to be looking at the other aspects as well."
The research also provides a breakdown of internet usage in Ireland by gender and type of usage.
It finds that almost 1.15 million Irish people use a computer every day or almost every day, while more than 850,000 use the internet every day. A further 500,000 use the internet at least once a week.
The most popular activity on the internet related to internet search and online services, followed by communication, especially sending and receiving e-mails.
In the 12 months prior to February 2007, almost 890,000 people had ordered goods or services from the internet for private use - compared with 710,000 a year earlier.
The most common purchases on the internet in 2007 were travel and holiday accommodation (530,000) and tickets for events (303,000), the research also notes.
Levels of computer use were highest among students, followed by those who use them at work.