Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I note the Minister referred to private sector companies but, unfortunately, the State has not become involved in this sector because of the selling off of Eircom.

Is the Minister aware of the report from the International Telecommunications Union? It reinforced the point that Irish broadband subscribers fail to get value for money. According to its report, Irish customers pay €30 for a basic Eircom broadband package while customers in the Netherlands pay €8 less and have a connection that is 20 times faster. We are talking in terms our having the slowest broadband connection. Does the Minister agree that we still lag behind most European countries in the uptake of broadband? In that regard, is the Minister concerned about the slow roll-out of broadband, particularly in those regions where no major employer will invest unless basic infrastructure, such as broadband, is available?

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