Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Our capacity in urban areas, where there is fierce competition from the commercial sector, is comparable to that in any member state in the Union and better than some. The weakness in the system in terms of the more sparsely populated regions of the country have been identified and we have acknowledged that it will not happen without State intervention. In order to allow the State to intervene, we must get clearance from Europe in terms of State aids. Very sophisticated technology and systems are required, for example, if one were to exploit the potential of e-health, but at the rate that new technologies are being introduced in health and the cost and expense of them, we will have to continue to adapt our capacity to avail of that technology more cheaply. Therefore the strides that Deputy Colreavy envisages that might be made in e-health are very far-reaching but we are still some way off that, not because we are constrained by inadequate broadband. At present broadband in urban areas compares favourably with any other city. I was at an energy conference in Paris recently and there were serious difficulties about the quality of broadband available in the French capital. One can look at the investment plan and what Eircom is rolling out, and also at the strides made by competitors such as UPC. The quality is very high. We have a problem in rural Ireland with a very basic broadband service. The Deputy is correct that this is an area that must be addressed.