Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

One of the starkest examples of the Government's lethargy on all matters digital has been the failure to set a timeframe for switching off the analogue signal. In section 11, which deals with analogue switch-off, we get only a vague commitment to conduct a consultation process and review in two years. The EU has stated that 2012 is the preferred end date for switching off the analogue signal across Europe. Perhaps analogue transmission suits an analogue Government, but the rest of Europe is beginning to live in the digital age. The Government has made no decision. The target dates for most other EU member states range from 2008 to 2012. I again ask the Minister to address the issue of whether 2012 will be the date for the switch-off of analogue services. I have asked this question six times already in parliamentary questions in the past year and a half.

A two-year digital terrestrial television, DTT, pilot programme at two locations has been established in the last couple of months but there are still few, if any, radio services available in the form of digital audio broadcasts, DAB. I understand people with DAB sets have nothing to receive and that interactive digital services such as video on demand, VOD, archive services or interactive commercials are also underdeveloped.

Neither the Government, the national broadcaster, RTE, nor the communications regulator, ComReg, has taken or been charged with taking the primary role in leading the digital switchover. In the United Kingdom the former head of Channel Five, Mr. David Elstein, told British MPs at the House of Commons Committee on Culture, Media and Sport that the digital switchover "will be the biggest single civil project in the history of this country". He went on to say, "Just telling people that all their TVs and videos are going to stop working is not managing things." That is more or less what the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, told me at Question Time a few months ago.

Converting terrestrial television services to digital services is a complex project that will necessitate a high degree of co-ordination and co-operation. So far there has been little management by the outgoing Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government of the unfolding digital transition. For example, how does the Minister envisage ComReg being involved? In sections 4 to 6, inclusive, it has a minimal role. On Tuesday we shall discuss a major Bill to change ComReg, yet the Minister does not seem to have given it a serious function, except in its role as dispenser of spaces on the spectrum, as mentioned at the top of the Bill. Most of all, the Minister has not published any costings or cost-benefit analysis of the digital switchover, or the potential cost to the taxpayer and householder of the total project. When I asked on 30 May 2006 whether he had any cost estimates, he replied:

It is quite a simple sum. One must add up the cost of the televisions that will have to be bought, perhaps one or two per household. That is a matter for the individual householder.

He appeared to be very unclear on the actual process of digital switchover. DTT allows for a relatively simple conversion process and may not entail every owner having to replace existing television and video recorders. The Minister told me last week that the DTT project would cost €6 million, with €2 million being spent in 2007-08. Therefore, the explanatory memorandum to the Bill is not correct, because it states it will be Exchequer neutral; yet, the Minister is talking about spending a minimum of €6 million, I presume on information campaigns.

The ceannaire of RTE, Mr. Cathal Goan, has costed the charge for set-top boxes which we need at €100 each. If there are 1.8 million households, the figure involved could reach a minimum of €180 million alone. Then there is the major cost to RTE and others of replacing analogue transmission equipment and rolling out the DTT network. However, there are no estimates for any of this and nothing as regards what multiplex licences will cost when we go past the second multiplex. It seems clear that on costings the Minister has done no homework and is not prepared to give the public or householders even a general view of what this initiative is likely to cost the country.

In other countries a much more proactive approach has been adopted by governments. The German region of Berlin-Brandenburg, for example, was the first in the world to complete the digital switchover in August 2003. The rest of Germany is on schedule to have converted by 2010. In Berlin-Brandenburg set-top boxes were supplied to around 6,000 low-income households. The process involved a staggered switch-off, a partnership with industry, a major public information campaign and a regional and local approach, none of which the Minister has attempted here.

The United Kingdom has been described as the "most advanced country in terms of digital progress". This progress has been achieved because of the strong proactive approach taken by the British Labour Party Government on the issue and the establishment of an effective partnership between the regulator, the main public service broadcaster, the BBC, and the Government. According to the British Government's cost-benefit analysis, of the cost and power implications of digital switchover, as produced by OfCom in 2005, the process would bring benefits in the region of £1.1 to £2.2 billion. We have a whole series of such reports from OfCom and the BBC, yet in this country, apart from a very brief document from RTE, we literally seem to be working in the dark.

A rolling series of dates for the switch-off of analogue services has been set in Britain. Wales, for example, will be switching off in 2009. The Six Counties will be among the last group of regions to switch off in 2012. The British have set up an independent non-profit organisation, Digital UK, to oversee and co-ordinate digital transformation and ensure the switchover is carried out in an efficient and equitable manner. I may table an amendment on behalf of the Labour Party proposing the establishment of a similar agency here.

New Zealand, too, provides an interesting example in the Irish context as it is a country of similar size, populationwise, and makes special provision for the representation and protection of the Maori heritage in a way not dissimilar to how we protect the Irish language and culture. A very proactive approach has been taken by the Labour Party Government towards moving to full digital transmission. It is concerned, in particular, to protect the free-to-air digital content which clearly is thought to be under threat. The transition to digital transmission is critically important for individual viewers. Digital services will provide many benefits, including enhanced picture quality, sound, range of portable and mobile reception, information services and increased choice of television and radio channels, as Deputies Stagg and Durkan have so eloquently expressed.

There will be significant problems for Ireland. In the informative briefing document sent to Members of the Oireachtas by the RTE ceannaire, Mr. Cathal Goan, he states 88,000 families in Leinster who receive free multi-channel television services will be cut off when UK services in the west of England and Wales go digital. This gives them just a couple of years. A further 115,000 households will lose free multi-channel reception in a staggered manner as other areas in the United Kingdom switch off. This is an enormous number of Irish families which are on the verge of losing multi-choice free-to-air reception. That is why I told the Dáil last week that a few years down the line many householders may well have a "Noel Dempsey moment" when they turn on their sets and they go fuzzy or blank.

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