Mr. Mark Griffin:

There are a couple of things. First, the availability of a good and ubiquitous mobile phone service requires spectrum. One thing the Minister has done is to auction the 3.6 GHz spectrum, which frees up more spectrum for use for the mobile phone sector while accruing €78 million to the State. I mentioned earlier that he has given RTÉ €8 million to do a class of a digital switchover, which will allow it to get out of using some of the spectrum that is used for television broadcasting and free that up for mobile phones. This type of spectrum - 700 MHz - is particularly useful in rural areas because of the nature of the wave. That will become available in 2019.

The other thing that is ongoing on foot of the mobile phone and broadband task force is that the operators are working very closely with the local authorities. A number of pilot local authorities, including the Chairman's local authority in County Laois, are under way to see where are the blackspots. Local authorities and the mobile phone operators have been asked to identify these and what can be done, including piggy-backing onto State infrastructure, to see if the service can be improved. That pilot programme is under way.