Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

Repeatedly, section 3 refers to new functions for the RTE Authority, but RTE was another body to be abolished through last September's Bill. I welcome that RTE is present in the legislation before the House. As I tried to clarify at the committee hearings, the Labour Party is opposed to the abolition of the RTE Authority and favours the British broadcasting model of regulation where the national broadcaster has its own regulating authority and OfCom regulates the rest of the broadcasting and communications landscape.

We are legislating for DTT in a regulatory and broadcasting environment that was to be radically changed by the overarching broadcasting Bill. Therefore, it is an incongruous and incomprehensible situation within which to bring forward DTT structures. Will the Minister address these matters in his response?

There are eerie and disturbing parallels between the ongoing disastrous broadband roll-out overseen by the Government and the roll-out of digital terrestrial broadcasting. More than a year ago, I warned the Minister of a significant danger, in that we could see a rerun of the broadband debacle that has resulted in the international joke that is our position in EU league tables for broadband penetration, as described in The Irish Times a few weeks ago. Many of the same issues are involved, namely, being extraordinarily slow on up-take, being left behind by our EU and OECD partners, undertaking no research or proper preparation, not establishing public information or awareness campaigns, not ensuring that all citizens will have access to developing services and allowing a digital divide between sections of our society to develop. Did the Government and Minister learn nothing from his mismanagement of broadband and its roll-out?

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