Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The Taoiseach expressed the view recently, when attempting to justify expenditure on electronic voting machines, that people in a country which is a leading worldwide exporter of software should, at least, be able to vote electronically. Does the Minister agree that we should equally expect that a country that is a leading exporter of software should be able to demonstrate how good the software is by ensuring broadband provision throughout the country is at least on a par with that available elsewhere in Europe?

Is the Minister aware of the recent OECD and EU reports on telecommunications technology in Ireland generally? These reports made severe criticisms of the costs associated with the provision of and access to broadband and the methodology used in its provision and demonstrated that the Irish consumer is the victim. Is he aware that in an open economy such as ours, it is essential that action is taken to drive forward the provision of broadband in a way that has not happened?

Will the Minister confirm that provision of broadband so far is only approximately 50% of what was anticipated for the end of 2005? Although Ireland is progressing at a faster rate than other European countries, this is only because we started from a much lower base. Despite this, we were placed further ahead four or five years ago.

Will the Minister indicate whether he as policy director has given instructions to ComReg and the service providers with regard to ensuring that obstacles to the provision of rapid broadband service are dealt with and resolved, for example, local loop unbundling, line rental costs and number change difficulties, which cost a fortune and take a colossal amount of time. Will the Minister indicate whether, because of the high dependence of the economy on such services, he has a programme or agenda in mind to seriously challenge those with responsibility for their provision?

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