Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

Over the past several years, the Government has been committed to the roll-out of broadband. The policies put in place have been successful in increasing the numbers in broadband take-up. I agree with the Deputy on private sector investment in the services. That is why the MANs programme, the group broadband scheme and so forth were put in place. In the past several years there has not been the investment from the private sector that there should have been. This hindered the development of the market and left Ireland much further down the list than it should have been for such a thriving economy. The portrayal by others of Ireland as a backwater in IT and broadband is bad for the country's image. It is also false. If there was a truth in it, then the Government would be held to account for it. There is no truth in such a claim. One would not get all of the top companies in IT and in broadband setting up in this country if one did not have a proper telecommunications structure. We have a top class telecommunications structure but there are the difficulties to which the Deputy referred.

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