Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I support these amendments which cover the concerns raised by many. If ComReg is not given the powers to tackle the problems outlined by Deputy Broughan, we will have to return with a new Bill and this process will have been wasted.

One Member referred to people bringing up their problems with telecommunications service providers on Joe Duffy's show. It is Joe Duffy who seems to have become the champion people are seeking. ComReg must become the champion of the consumer and have responsibility for the changes required.

As I have often said, it was a mistake to sell Eircom. The idea behind it was that it would improve competition but it did not help the consumer. What did the sale achieve? We are still paying the price for the Eircom sell-off with the unsatisfactory roll-out of broadband. A universal services obligation must be written into the Bill.

We have all experienced the difficulties with unwanted and unsolicited text messages, telephone calls and e-mails. Some Members referred to protecting vulnerable young people from these. Vulnerable adults must also be protected. For instance, a person receives a text message with football results and is forced to reply to it, for which he or she is charged both times. They have entered a cycle where they are charged very high rates. It is difficult to break out of such a cycle.

Every time one turns on the computer, one is bombarded with spam e-mails. I do not know how many times I have received an e-mail informing me I am a millionaire, having been the 999,999th person to log on. We may laugh at it but some people are conned by it. I do not know how many times I have received a message requesting me to lodge a sum into one bank account to receive a larger amount. It plays on people's greed and naivety.

Deputy Broughan's amendments will strengthen the Bill and provide the telecommunications champion people want. During the recent events involving Smart Telecom, a man whose son was dying of cancer and who needed to keep in contact with the hospital contacted me over the difficulties he was having just getting a telephone switched back on. The problem dealing with monolithic telephone companies is they give many excuses but no one seems to be able to make a decision.

It is a scandal that many new housing estates have no telephone or broadband services. It is not acceptable that people must wait nine months for a telephone line. Various excuses are made such as the lines have not yet been rolled out in the area or works on improving the service are ongoing. That is due to the sell-off of Eircom. E-mail, broadband and telephone lines are basic necessities if we want to encourage people to work from home and see new business develop. These amendments would strengthen the Bill.

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