Inner city schools in Dublin have more computers per student, better adult education opportunities, and potentially a more supportive environment for bridging the "digital divide", according to a new study.

The findings, which go against the general perception that private schools and neighbourhoods are better equipped for teaching people to use information and communications technologies (ICTs), is part of a report called Digital Divide, carried out for the Dublin Employment Pact, a community group.

The study is the largest and most detailed ever done to acquire solid data on who has access to, and more importantly, competence and confidence using ICTs such as computers, software packages and the internet.

The study arose out of a one day roundtable discussion on "Dublin in the Knowledge Age", organized by the DEP and held in the Department of the Taoiseach. What emerged was the conclusion that "Ireland was seriously underdeveloped in relation both to ICT infrastructure provision as well as educational provision and general digital literacy," according to the report.

The group of participants, which included representatives from the public, private and community sectors, also agreed that there was a "vagueness that existed around the nature and extent of the Digital Divide" and a lack of strategies to address it - whatever "it" was.

The DEP then went to five of its member organizations - the Dublin regional Authority and the development boards for Dublin City, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, Fingal County and South Dublin County, and funded the report.

"This is not a policy document, but a major tool for policy makers," says Mr Philip O'Connor, director of DEP and chair of the Digital Inclusion Steering Group.

"It has all come from that original idea that we had a very worrying level of technical illiteracy, and that this threatens the future development of our economy and the success of Ireland Inc, as well as pointing out a serious social divide."

The research team's findings accord with the latest census figures, that about 40 per cent of Irish homes have a computer, and that about 31 per cent of households have access to the internet (a low figure Europe-wide).

However, such figures are too scant to give insight into Ireland's digital divide because they give few clues about who uses computers and the internet, and how, warns social researcher Mr Trutz Haase, who conducted the study along with Mr Jonathan Pratschke.

"There's a huge difference in technological literacy across the communities," Mr Haase says. In addition, "with ICTs, you can have a huge difference within the house, something which is hugely disregarded in census data, for example, which simply measures whether a household has a computer. You can have 80 to 90 per cent penetration of computers in houses and still have a huge digital divide."

For example, while 71 per cent of professional households have a PC, only 15 per cent of unskilled manual labour households do; 63 per cent of professional households have net access while only 9 per cent of unskilled labour households do.

And while gender doesn't seem to be part of a digital divide at first glance - 41.8 per cent of male respondents and 38.5 per cent of female respondents have access to a computer - it is a hidden component. Only 29.6 per cent of women were proficient in the use of a computer (measured by the number of software packages they could use, in addition to email and a web browser), while men numbered 38.4 per cent. Only 26.1 per cent of women were confident in such use of PCs, compared to 37.4 per cent of men.

Also low on the scale of ICT users were people engaged in home duties (30 per cent have a PC), retired people (17 per cent) , the disabled (22 per cent) and the unemployed (23 per cent). In general, computers were used most widely by those under 25, though another spike exists in the 30-55 age group. But that is likely due to parents buying their children PCs, says Mr Haase.

Figures on ICT access in schools (in which two-thirds of schools responded to an interview request) threw out the surprise discovery that students at vocational and comprehensive schools in working class and inner city areas had more computers available to them than their peers in secondary schools.

Secondary school pupils have one computer for every 10 students, and one internet connection for every 13 students, while at vocational and comprehensive schools, there's one PC for every four students, and seven students per net access point. Nonetheless, competence and confidence in using ICTs is lower in vocational and comprehensive schools.

In addition, vocational and comprehensive schools make their facilities available for evening use for adult classes in computer and internet use at a much higher rate than secondary schools. Less than one in five secondary schools is used for such purposes, while 69 per cent of both comprehensives and vocational schools hold evening classes, as well as 80 per cent of post leaving certificate schools.

Mr Haase was particularly interested in the effects living in a given neighbourhood can have on one's confidence in getting out and learning to use ICTs - of particular relevance to those with home, duties, the retured, the disabled and the unemployed.

Using social science graphing methods for various data, Mr Haase found that friend and neighbourhood support was seen to be higher in lower income areas of Dublin than in higher income areas.

The study concludes that schools are by far the most important vehicle for increasing computer literacy among young people, and that putting broadband connections into second level schools should be a top priority.

Making use of schools and third level facilities such as regional technical colleges or those in the main cities for ICT classes would also target other groups lagging in ICT competence and confidence, says Mr O'Connor.

A comprehensive programme making use of existing facilities - about 150 have been identified -- could be rolled out for euro5 million in the first year, and euro10 million thereafter, says Mr Haase. Such a programme could be funded through a public private partnership with ICT companies and other relevant parties, they believe.

"Doing this could raise the state's proficiency level [IN ICT]by six percentage points," says Mr Haase, from 13 to 20. "That's a huge difference."