Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I will cite an example of why consulting with international experts who have no vested interest in our plans is exactly the policy we should follow. A previous international forum was set up in 1999 and its recommendation was for the State to invest in a global crossing connection, costing €77 million. It has proved successful in reducing our international connectivity prices to among the lowest in the OECD. That is the type of investment that the State is best doing, when the market is not delivering. It came from a similar forum in the past.

Our commitment to investing, where appropriate, is set out in the National Development Plan 2007-2013 and includes a potential budget of €435 million over that period.

In 2007, we spent €35 million and in 2008 we are committed to a budget of approximately €53 million, primarily for metropolitan area networks and the national broadband scheme. With regard to the metropolitan area networks, Deputy Coveney will recall when we shared the Opposition benches in 2003 that there was clear market failure and nothing was happening. It was agreed by the committee, which produced a report on it, that MANs was the right development and a way to kick-start the process. Where the market was not investing in what was an obvious and crucial development, it was right for the State to step in. We cannot afford to lag behind and for the market not to deliver in those areas. We invested in these high speed, open access networks, with co-location centres so all operators can use the networks on an open access basis. That was the right and proper decision and will prove to be a successful long-term investment for the people of the State. Such digital, high quality, fibre optic ducting is a crucial part of a modern infrastructure.

The first phase of 27 MANs has been built and established, with the company e-Net, the management services entity, operating to provide open access to all operators in the industry on an equal access basis. A total of 66 additional towns have already started construction in phase II of the programme. They will be managed under a second new management services entity. This is a fast-changing technological area so we were aware there were difficulties in terms of how to provide connections from such metropolitan fibre networks to the rest of the network in the backhaul and to the home. It does not provide a fibre cable connection through to the house. Partly due to those concerns, the Department commissioned a value for money review. It will be published in the coming weeks and we will take it into account.

Given the value for money review and the fact that we are examining this entire area on a proper policy assessment basis, including our international advisory forum, I considered it appropriate, as was announced in the Dáil a number of months ago, to delay signing the contracts for new projects within phase II or phase III, which is already set, to reconsider what our investment strategy should be in the context of the difficulties and opportunities that still exist in providing such fibre ducting. This is something I look forward to debating in more detail with the Opposition as we move towards public discussion of policy, which is appropriate but which cannot be done in one Private Member's debate, as much as I welcome it.

In further investment by the State, the school broadband programme began in 2005. A sum of €18 million was committed by both industry and the Government to a three year programme. It has resulted in 99% of schools having a broadband connection. We are working on the last 1% and on a second phase development of the schools broadband programme. This statistic probably does not jump out from the percentage coverage in OECD lists and so forth but it is crucial that we provide the highest quality broadband connectivity to our schools and colleges. It offers a huge opportunity for all parts of our society. One classroom with a high broadband connection allows the 20 or 30 students in the classroom to connect to the worldwide web and all the information it contains. That will not feature in a statistic and will not change an international measure of where we are positioned but it might well change the lives of those students. It is something we must progress with great speed.

The group broadband scheme was another intervention by the State in terms of providing for rural areas where there was no market response to provide broadband connectivity, possibly due to the demographics of the area. Some 127 projects were promoted and progressed under the scheme but ultimately there was a recognition that it was a better solution to provide a complete, ubiquitous broadband availability across the country. For that reason it was decided to opt for a national broadband scheme rather than a group broadband scheme, which was dealing with the issue on an individual project basis.

We must have an honest debate based on reality. Broadband is getting to 1 million households; soon over 1 million Irish households will be connected. There are now six very effective competing platforms and that provides competition between DSL providers, wireless cable companies, mobile telephony companies, satellite companies and fibre optic connections. A range of technological solutions is being developed. In this fast-changing area, where technologies and the speeds that can come from technologies are almost doubling every year to 18 months, the availability of a wide variety of technologies will see progress. Five years ago there were 4,000 broadband customers; today it is almost 1 million. Five years ago we had two mobile telephony providers, today we have five. Three of them are operating in the mobile broadband area, which is not included in the international statistics. However, it is taking off like a rocket in this country because people like that mobility and like the service they can get.

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