Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I do not have the relevant statistics available but I presume many would be available for a town like Ennis. It was a good idea to consider particular towns in regard to the use of IT, especially in western seaboard and BMW areas. I am sure data are available and I would be glad to share it with the Deputy.

The current approach is to develop the metropolitan area networks, MANs, project and to roll out broadband to various towns and villages throughout the country. This is being extended with the group broadband scheme. A series of policies are in place which will ensure we will reach out to those areas that have not benefited from technological innovation. There are also a series of policy directions from the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to ComReg, focused on the delivery of competitive broadband pricing and the shaping of a telecommunications industry-supported programme to deliver broadband to 4,000 schools by September. There is a focus on the peripheral regions. Ennis has clearly benefited greatly from that project in the past and there is a continuum of similar projects in the pipeline in an effort to reach out to peripheral areas.

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