Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 25:

In page 12, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following:

"(c) fails to provide at least 24 hours of prior notice for the withdrawal of any electronic communications service or electric communications product to an end user.".

This amendment proposes an insertion into the new section 13D which concerns the power of ComReg to obtain information from a telecommunications undertaking. It reiterates a previous amendment I wanted to make to the provisions on the functions of ComReg under the 2002 Act. Under this amendment, an undertaking would commit an offence if it failed to provide at least 24 hours' prior notice for the withdrawal of any electronic communications service or electric communications product to an end user.

On Committee Stage, we discussed the definition and use of the phrase "end user" and the fact that the word "consumer" was not used. The word "consumer" is used later in the Bill and I wondered whether an ambiguity or discretion arose through the use of both.

We also discussed the collapse of Smart Telecom. When ComReg was before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, it stated that although it was aware of the difficulties for a number of months, it was not aware during the days prior to the collapse, which were over a weekend, of how serious the matter was. The outstanding bills owed by Smart Telecom to Eircom were called in immediately.

This amendment seeks at least 24 hours' notice of withdrawal of service and I asked for 30 days as a general requirement. No business or household should be left without a service if another matter like the Eircom-Smart Telecom debacle emerged. An interesting aspect explored in some sections of the media was the extent to which ComReg knew and whether it should have been in a position to warn people the service would disappear.

While it is a re-run of the earlier amendment and in the same spirit, it is slightly different in that it is an attempt to insert the provision into the new section 13D and create an offence if a telecommunications provider unilaterally withdraws service. The Smart Telecom situation was terrible. References were made to people's health in the context of depriving them of a service, particularly local GPs and health centres not being able to have a communications service, which was completely ludicrous.

See this speech in context