Mr. Torlach Denihan:

First, the industry shares the frustration felt by Deputy Michael Moynihan's constituents. There was certainly no intent on our part to seek an apology from anyone. As a proud Limerick man married to a proud Leitrim woman, I certainly would not seek to move into that territory.

In respect of broadband and mobile phone coverage, it is a little like a Deputy being compared to an MP in Great Britain. There are 600 odd MPs who can cover 60 million people in the United Kingdom in a more straightforward way because of population dispersal. Members of the committee must cover far more miles to talk to their constituents. It is the same challenge for us - we must run more cable and more infrastructure is required.

The urban-rural divide is a really serious issue. The industry is very keen to sell more product and service more customers - that is how we make money. We will go wherever it is commercially viable to provide a service. Ours are commercial entities that must fund investment and sustain employment. The answer to the problem of the rural-urban divide lies in part in addressing the barriers I mentioned but also in the Government scheme announced which offers a way forward.

I will ask some of my colleagues to comment on some of the specific challenges in providing rural broadband and mobile phone services. Mr. Galvin from eircom will talk about some of the challenges in providing rural broadband services.