Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on broadband services and to speak in support of the Government counter-motion, which details recent progress in the area of broadband and signals the Government's intent to further ambitiously improve Ireland's position. A planned investment of €8 billion for science, technology and innovation in the National Development Plan 2007-2013 shows the Government's commitment to the further development of the knowledge economy. The importance of broadband to the Irish economy has been demonstrated by the vigorous debate here in the Dáil and by our experiences outside this House. Ireland is a knowledge economy and needs high quality broadband services to underpin its continued growth.

Broadband services are provided in the Irish market by the private sector, with appropriate regulation from the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. ComReg's powers have been strengthened by the Communications Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007, which provides it with additional competition powers and increased fines to enforce regulatory obligations. Deputies on all sides outlined why this had to happen. I welcome the recent agreement between Eircom, ComReg and the other operators on local-loop unbundling, which means there are now no material obstacles in this regard. Also, the announcement in the last few weeks of new broadband products, with speeds up to 12 mbps, is a welcome improvement in the quality of broadband services available here.

The latest figures from the OECD show Ireland experienced the fastest growth in broadband take-up in the OECD and had a penetration rate per capita of over 18%.

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