Mr. Robert Mourik:

The issue of nuisance communications is not, strictly speaking, part of network security or of the Bill, but I might give the committee an update on it. We have set up a task force with the industry on the matter and, at our initiative, it is looking at a number of ways in which we can address the issue of nuisance calls. It is not something we have the ambition to be able to resolve straight away, given that once we find one solution, fraudsters will find other ways around it. Nevertheless, we think we are looking, along with industry, at the most promising ways of reducing the number of nuisance calls and text messages. The task force meets monthly. It is, of course, up to operators to implement the measures, and after six months or a year, the task force will report back.

We have done much analysis with other regulators, both in the United States and in Europe, and we have been able to identify a number of pragmatic solutions that can be implemented quickly in order that, we hope, consumers in Ireland will see a reduction sooner rather than later. Many operators have started implementing a number of measures and the number of calls and text messages has fallen, although we hope to improve on that over the coming months.