Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

While I welcome many aspects of the Bill, I will focus on several areas in which it could be strengthened. I examined the legislation from the point of view of whether its application in practice will resolve certain serious problems. For example, I examined the provision to amend the Competition Act 2002 to enable the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, to investigate breaches of competition law in the telecommunications sector. It is difficult to ascertain how this would make a difference to the cable television sector, which lacks competition because parts of it are carved up between companies. Until a few years ago, cable television companies were licensed for approximately seven years and in the event that a company failed to fully comply with the licence, the redress open to the authorities was to revoke the licence or place conditions on its renewal. The introduction of EU legislation tilted the balance in favour of the pursuit of competition. Consumers were overlooked as the regulation of competition between companies was given priority.

I did not expect to have to deal with problems with cable television services. A number of my constituents were left without cable television services for days on end and several of them were concerned they would be left without a service over Christmas. It is a serious problem when people are so dependent on a service. We monitored the response of a cable television company to customer queries and found that customers could spend 20 minutes or half an hour listening to piped music as they tried to get through to customer services. When they finally spoke to someone, the company had no record of receiving previous complaints. This is a highly unsatisfactory position from a consumer point of view. Where in the Bill are consumer issues addressed?

Even when people have an option to switch cable services between Sky, NTL, Chorus and so forth, the services available are not comparable. For example, one service may not provide Teletext or may be more expensive. I have contacted ComReg on several occasions and while it was helpful, it was also toothless because it has little control over consumer issues.

A new section will be required to address the rip-off of consumers through costly unsolicited text messages. Last week, a "Prime Time" programme included an excellent feature on the problem. When I investigated several complaints I received on the issue, I discovered that numerous complaints have been made about unsolicited text messages. Is it possible to amend the Bill to place an obligation on service providers to address this problem?

The case of Smart Telecom, which provides a service to my constituency office, highlighted a most unsatisfactory circumstance in which the owner of the telecommunications network competes with other service providers. We have not learned lessons from this development, although it is possible it is still under investigation. I ask the Minister to comment on how it is proposed to address the problem. Many people will not risk switching to a competing service provider because they fear losing their service. This was essentially the message to emerge from the Smart Telecom debacle.

I assume Government Deputies are also contacted by constituents who are unable to obtain a telephone line. Some of my constituents have been waiting for more than 12 months for a line. They do not live on mountainsides but in housing estates where the residents face protracted delays in obtaining a telephone line. It is all very well to talk about legislation, regulation and control or providing ComReg with more teeth to deal with competition issues but the inability of people to secure a basic service such as a telephone demonstrates the urgency of taking action.

When seeking European Union funding the Government used to argue that it was essential to have in place proper infrastructure, such as roads, public transport, water, and waste water facilities, to secure jobs and make areas attractive. Our communications networks are key, but we are in serious trouble in several areas. Other Members spoke about the inadequacy in some locations of the provision and even speed of broadband services. My concern is that we will have good regulation but will forget about the consumer. The focus will be on the major players in the market without looking at those who will have the service delivered, or not delivered as is often the case.

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