Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

In the history of communications in the State we have got at least two major decisions wrong. Some 20 years ago we allowed the cable network to be acquired by RTE and Telecom Éireann, which effectively meant the cable platform was taken over between two other platforms. The kind of developments that took place in Belgium, France and many other countries even including the United States became impossible. Is this not a matter about which the Minister should be concerned?

Is it in the public interest that the same individual, namely John Malone of Liberty Global, should be in a position to acquire control over the entire cable platform in Ireland while at the same time being the most significant shareholder, after the Murdoch family, in News Corporation, the entity that controls BskyB.

See this speech in context