Editorial

Abstract

This special issue of The Economic and Social Review presents a selection of papers from the conference Ireland, Europe and the Global Information Society held in Dublin in Spring 1997. The background to this conference were the many claims concerning the changing role of the information "society" or the "information economy" associated with the diffusion and application of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). These issues have been highlighted in many recent European Commission and national government reports. For example, the EC's Bangemann Report in 1994 highlighted the emergence of an information society and the wider implications of new ICTs for many aspects of economic and social life throughout the E U . These issues were also emphasised in the Commission's White Paper "Growth Competitiveness, Employment", in the 1994 Green Paper on the audio-visual sector and in the action plan for "Europe's Way to the Information Society", published in 1995.