Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. It is welcome because it will strengthen the power of the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, to enable greater competition in the electronic communications market. There should be no opposition to its passage though the House because it is the result of consultation between the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, ComReg, the main market players and others in the industry.

We must get to the stage where there is an open and competitive market. That is a matter for ComReg. The privatisation of Eircom in its entirety is almost universally seen as a mistake. That mistake is most glaring when one considers the absence of the roll-out of broadband throughout the State. We are now consistently told that the provision of broadband is primarily a matter for Eircom. However, the latter is not taking action with any degree of urgency or uniformity. Huge chunks of the country are without broadband and there are areas where, because it is not possible to enable other exchanges, broadband cannot be provided.

The demand for broadband is not being met. Business people who want to work from home cannot do so because of the absence of broadband. Students in rural areas who would benefit greatly from having a broadband service are greatly disadvantaged because that service is absent. The Government must come forward with a solution to this problem of providing broadband to rural areas. It is possible to do it and people in rural areas are entitled to the same service as their urban counterparts.

I will now address the scandal of the absence of fibre optic broadband in Tuam in my constituency. Under the national spatial strategy, Tuam was designated as a hub town. All Departments and State agencies were expected to take this strategy into account in framing their policies. It is an indication of the standing of the national spatial strategy, however, that although Tuam is the only town in County Galway designated as a hub town, it was omitted when several towns in Galway were being provided with a metropolitan area network, MAN, infrastructure.

This raises serious questions about the Government's commitment either to the national spatial strategy or to east Galway. We are told the reason Tuam was omitted was that a pilot experimental scheme was being tried by the ESB in Tuam at the time. However, the Minister and his Department know this ESB pilot scheme proved to be a failure long ago. The reality is that the only town in County Galway designated a hub town under the national spatial strategy is left without a MAN that would facilitate the provision of fibre optic broadband.

Is there a political reason Tuam does not have a MAN? Is an announcement of the decision to provide a MAN being delayed to fit into the schedule for a ministerial visit to east Galway and Tuam at election time? Whatever the reason for the refusal to provide a MAN for Tuam, the reality is that business in Tuam is suffering. Progress that could be made is not being made. It is no longer a question of whether a MAN should be provided to Tuam but a matter of when the announcement will be made.

I urge the Minister to make that announcement now. I ask him to show his and his Government's commitment to the west and to the national spatial strategy. He must prove that the words spoken at the launch of that strategy and subsequently mean something. Will he show that Government policies can complement each other after all and that there is a synergy and some degree of cohesion between those policies?

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