When first dreamt up it cut an improbable dash. The long-term unemployed and computer expertise were never quite synonymous with each other. But the Tramlines intensive computer training project, which placed 25 Ballymun residents in full-time employment within three months of completion, continues to set precedents.

Now it has cast its net wider, and since December has been up and running in Mohill, Co Leitrim. Under the tuition of one of the original Tramlines graduates, Mr Paul Maguire, 20 local residents last week sat the first phase of examination under the programme - the Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS) exam.

According to Mr Maguire, who had been unemployed for 13 years, there has been very little difficulty in replicating the full-time course in a rural environment, and initial differences in expertise among class members tend to fade quickly.

"Once the class starts, the training quickly surpasses the level of knowledge anyone would have previously had. Beyond that point, it's all down to who puts in the application," he says.

The Mohill course, which was initiated by the Mohill Community and Development Association, was set up after the association's chairman saw the success of the Ballymun project. With the help of £10,000 (€12,697.38) from local businesses, and £77,000 under the Programme for Peace and Reconciliation, the computer training centre was established for the socially disadvantaged.

Sixty-five people applied for the course initially, and owing to demand, an evening class is now running four nights a week training 50 local people for the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).

Mr Gerry Magee, chairman of the Mohill Community and Development Association, believes such courses may be the only viable means of sustaining a workforce in rural locations. "This is an example of what can be done without costing millions. For a few thousand pounds people can be suitably trained, and if there isn't enough work locally they can take up teleworking."

Already the local Masonite wood production plant, and Leitrim county council have committed to taking on a number of the graduates once they have received their final accreditation as Microsoft Certified Professionals.

Now Mr Maguire says the course may be extended into a second year to produce Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers. This qualification currently commands an entry level salary of £20,000 rising to between £35,000 and £40,000 within just two years. For Mr Maguire himself, the Tramlines course has allowed him a life beyond Ballymun, which he describes as "no place to bring up kids". He hopes that by the summer his wife and five children will be able to join him in Mohill.

"A course like this shows if people are committed and put in the graft they can come out at the end and contribute to the workforce. It proves if you give people the facilities they will work. Anywhere there are 200 people or more signing on the Live Register, you have room for one of these courses," he says.

Now a similar course is also up and running in Dundalk. The Shuttle 2000 project, launched in November 1998 as part of the Dundalk/Drogheda Territorial Employment Pact, is training 25 unemployed people from one of the most disadvantaged regions of the Republic to become computer professionals.

While Microsoft has spearheaded some of the most innovative computer education projects in the State, similar initiatives are also being sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Motorola and others.

The motivation behind such courses is relatively transparent as they are geared towards meeting the growing computer skills shortage. Recent Government statistics have shown there is a 5,000 person shortfall in Irish IT professionals and a rising demand for more.

While it is important to meet such requirements, there are also wider social implications of the dawn of the information age. It could be convincingly argued that its development to date has been primarily business-centred. Originally touted as an opportunity to enhance democracy, the Internet and communications developments have been slow to enhance citizenship and make for greater social inclusion.

One initiative, the Pathfinder Project, managed by Mr Mervyn Taylor, is in the early stages of addressing these wider concerns. Sponsored by Exselan Computers, an independent information services company, Pathfinder is attempting to establish an arena for discourse between public policy-makers, citizens action groups and the corporate sector.

According to Mr Taylor: "Pathfinder wants to eliminate some of the hype and draw out good visionary thinking. There is a grave danger the computer industry and the information society could be confused as one and the same thing. The social potential of this is just as great as the economic potential."

Pathfinder is researching the creation of a Public Services Card for all citizens, which would hold information about the citizen, precluding the need for a means test every time a benefit is applied for from health boards or the department of social and community affairs.

There is also scope for the wider application of this card for multifunctional purposes. "There is no reason why the citizen's card couldn't be used to vote, shop, access public services and travel. The technology is already there, and it would build trust and confidence in public services, and the way information is gathered and held on people," says Mr Taylor.

The Government, for its part, believes its action plan for implementing the information society adequately addresses the whole area of social inclusion. A spokesman at the Department of the Taoiseach says that although the public-services card is still very much at the planning stage, a range of projects currently under way rely on its development for their successful implementation.

"We accept inevitably the public focus has been very much on the business side. But there is a commitment to ensuring the benefits of the information society are made available to anyone who wants."

He says this is being achieved through falling PC prices and Internet access costs, and the wider availability of the Internet through libraries and community centres.