SEANAD REPORT: Speaking on the Bill to provide for the development of the Digital Hub in Dublin, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Ahern, said there would probably be more failures than successes, but the venture would be judged ultimately on the success of the projects involved.

"It is true to say that this is a risk; it's a risk in that not everything that will be researched and developed by people for the companies involved and indeed on behalf of universities, or whatever, not everything will come to fruition." But any outside expertise that had been looked at "they will tell us that the way this country is going in that respect is the correct way".

The Bill which passed the Second Stage, establishes Digital Media Limited as a statutory State agency to oversee the development of the Digital Hub in the Coombe and Liberties area of Dublin. The development of the Hub would place Ireland in a strong position to compete in the growing Digital market place, said Mr Ahern.

"That is why both Enterprise Ireland and the IDA have targeted Digital Media as a key growth area within the IT sector and provides an opportunity to establish Ireland in a leading global position in this emerging sector. This growth will be driven by the continued rise in the levels of global penetration of the Internet and mass market access to broadband services and devices which will in turn lead to an increasing demand for Digital content".

The Minister said the Government had established MediaLab Europe (MLE), a third-level research and development institute in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It was out of this that the idea for a Digital Hub had grown, the thinking being that the clustering of high-tech enterprises around MLE would optimise the impact of its activities on the commercial sector and therefore maximise the return under Government's investment in MLE.