ENTERPRISE and Employment Minister Richard Bruton has announced the establishment of a new steering committee to decide how the State can best take advantage of the information superhighway. The 21 person group, which includes representatives from industry, the public service and the ICTU, met for the first time yesterday.

Mr Bruton said the key task of the group would be to "assess the employment impact of the information society". Ireland as a country has to identify how to act so that the full potential of technological advantages can be realised.

Headed by Ms Vivienne Jupp of Andersen Consulting, the committee also includes the Telecom Eireann chief executive, Mr Alfie Kane; the chief executive of Esat Telecom, Mr Denis O'Brien, and the chief executive of Intel Ireland, Mr Frank McCabe.