Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his presentation and acknowledge the presence of the officials from RTE and the Department.

To follow on from Deputy Moynihan's comments, one of my concerns is that while there is a temptation to ensure that everybody has a Saorview box, unfortunately there is a group in society that is already mobilising to use Saorview as a way to get inside the front door of elderly people's houses. That is very sinister. It has been reported in the media that some people are traversing the country and claiming to be at the house to connect it to Saorview. They are picking on vulnerable people. They will do this for everything, be it a gas connection or anything else. A message must be conveyed that the Department and RTE are not sending people door to door and that people should be wary of somebody calling to the door under the auspices of Saorview to try to get into the house.

Has the connection been subjected to trials? Have we tried the signal and satellite to ensure that after 24 October in the far-flung corners of the country the satellite will be turned on once the analogue is switched off? If there was such a trial, how did it go?

I believe the most effective piece of advertising was the "Let's Get Connected" advertisement. The Minister referred to the personalities and the warm faces. Until then, the cartoon cat and dog lost many people. However, when people saw Derek Mooney telling them their televisions would be switched off on 24 October it was very effective. My concern is about isolated rural areas outside the main urban centres. When the analogue signal is switched off and people do not have access to it will there be a contingency plan in place for the following fortnight, three weeks or month to try to identify the people affected and help them? Bear in mind that in many of these houses, the arrival of the second RTE channel was a big thing. The people in these houses might not have a great connection with their neighbours and they might not be the best communicators, but they expect to be able to sit down and watch the news to find out what happened in the Dáil or to watch "Coronation Street" and so forth. What contingency plan is there to reach out to those last few people? It will be a small number and they will be widely dispersed.