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Irish spending 948,000 USD per hour online: report

Xinhua, June 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Irish consumers spend around 850,000 euros (948,000 U.S. dollars)per hour online, up over 20 percent since 2012, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The study, conducted by international economic consultancy group Indecon, showed Irish consumers expect this to grow by 25 percent in the next three to five years.

The Indecon study report, "Assessment of the Macro-Economic Impact of Internet/Digital on the Irish Economy", also showed 88 percent of Irish consumers research products online before buying, compared to 79 percent across the European Union.

Approximately one in seven Irish people, or 13.5 percent of the adult population, make a supplementary income on the internet, according to the report.

The study found digital economy accounted for 12.3 billion euros or 6 percent of Ireland's GDP. It is growing fast at approximately 40 percent since 2012.

The digital economy is expected to expand to about 21.4 billion euros or 7.9 percent of the country's GDP by 2020, it said.

Currently almost 116,000 direct and indirect jobs are supported, of which 68,000 are directly linked to digital, it added.

Commenting on the report, Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources, Denis Naughten, said delivery of high speed broadband to every premises in Ireland is a top priority for the government.

"A major procurement process is well underway in my department, and will deliver at least 30mbps to every small business, home and school that cannot get access to such services," Naughten said.

"This will involve a major new telecoms network built across Ireland, covering 100,000 km of road and 96 percent of the land area of Ireland, akin to rural electrification in the last century," he said. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit