Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, this meeting is competing with a number of other events this morning, so I was not able to stay for the full presentation. I acknowledge the difficulty of ComReg's job in that it is a major challenge to try to bring the very best in terms of modern communications, whether it be broadband or other technology, to the entire country. Given the topography of the island and the offshore islands also, it is a huge challenge. I have always thought that we are only as good as our slowest connection when it comes to broadband. Unfortunately, parts of the country have a very slow connection, while some parts have no connection at all. There is a little area near Camp on the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry where, because of the topography, there is no connection and even satellite options are quite poor. We need to try to find ways to improve this and to ensure people in these communities can get on with living in the 21st century.

I have been a Deputy for almost four years and, from time to time, I get complaints from people about the national broadband scheme not working. In many cases, when these issues were highlighted, the response was not sufficiently positive in trying to tackle the problems, and that will have to improve in the future.

I understand a mapping programme is under way to let citizens know what is available to them and, if the service is not available to them, when it will be available. That needs to be very clear and user-friendly. People in every part of the country should be able to get the information they need to know what service providers are providing. They need to know the speeds and in what areas services are provided. If there is no service provision, they need to know when it will be available and what it will cost. That should have been done by now.

People have been inundated with announcements and positive news. I do not want to diminish in any way the positive developments in recent years, but it means nothing to people unless they have a clear idea of what is, what is not and what will be available. If providers do not toe the line and do not do their job, people need to be confident that they can go to a body that will ensure the provider does what it says on the tin. ComReg needs to brush up on that, as I do not think it has happened satisfactorily to date. I would be interested to hear ComReg's views.