Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

This necessary Bill is welcome on a number of levels. First, it reaffirms the principle that we should be trying to amalgamate the various different regulators dealing with the communications and broadcasting area generally into one strong well-resourced regulatory body, and ComReg is the appropriate body for that. In the same way that Deputy McManus and I would have made the case that perhaps the new broadcasting authority should also have been amalgamated into one strong communications regulating body, I welcome the removal of Regtel and the transfer of the functions from Regtel into ComReg, while also giving extra powers in the area of premium rate services to ComReg. This is an area that has grown too big in recent years to accept that voluntary regulation is sufficient to deal with the potential abuse possible from the targeting of very vulnerable mobile phone users in many cases, but also of vulnerable fixed line users in some cases, for the profits of companies that are providing premium rate services.

I do not want to give the impression that companies that provide premium-rate services should be pariahs; they should not. There is a genuine industry in information transfer and it will be increasingly important in the future as people rely predominantly on their mobile communication devices, although also on fixed-line services and their computers, to update them with information that is useful for work or of general interest. We cannot stop this tide. People will be using mobile hand-held devices for all sorts of services we probably cannot imagine. A major feature of this will be the transfer of information and the charge for that information. Our challenge as policy makers and protectors of the public interest is to protect people from scams, from people who are willing to abuse the transfer of information, and from people who will take advantage of genuine ignorance in consumers and, in many cases, children who are not capable of anticipating the abuse that may occur.

In case anybody thinks this is a small niche area, I will give some figures. Premium-rate services on fixed lines and, particularly, mobile devices represent an industry that was worth €95 million last year. In 2008, Irish people received 76 million chargeable premium text messages. We are talking about multiple messages for every person who has a mobile telephone in Ireland. Some are specifically targeted because they are easy targets and we need to protect these people. We must ensure that there is a regulator and that he or she is on top of the technological advances that happen constantly and has the power to penalise people when they break the rules. ComReg is now being asked to put in place and enforce a code of practice. We have given it the power to impose fines of up to €250,000, which is appropriately large for companies who are consistently abusing their position, as has been the case in certain instances.

There is growing concern about this issue among the public. If we consider the figures from last year we will see that Regtel received more than 6,000 complaints about premium-rate services, compared to only 1,700 the year before. This represents a fourfold increase in the number of complaints. It also corresponds to a dramatic increase in the number of texts and other premium-rate products. This is not all about text messages; there are also telephone psychics, weather forecasts, music, sports updates and many other services. Many of these are useful, but the issue is whether they are properly advertised and charged for.

Another interesting trend is the number of people who have contacted the regulator to obtain information on how to unsubscribe from a service. For example, a child may come home from school and say he or she signed up to a service to keep up to date with the Top Ten singles charts, but the information is now arriving every day and he or she does not know how to stop it. Parents are finding themselves in a position of ignorance in this regard. Last year, 22,000 people contacted RegTel to ask them how they could unsubscribe from services.

There are a number of demands and concerns that the public have to which we must respond not just through this legislation, but also by giving ComReg the resources to engage in an education process of both parents and children, as well as consumers generally, with regard to premium-rate services. I ask the Minister to consider the resources that will be available to ComReg to do this. Increasingly, people need such information quickly. It is to be hoped that they will be able to obtain it on-line from ComReg, but they should also be able to make a telephone call to hear in simple English how they can stop a premium-rate service. They should also be able to find out how to inquire about whether the service is safe and whether the company is reputable and has a licence. If, for example, a parent is trying to protect his or her child from a premium-rate service, he or she should be able to get information on the provider of the product. I welcome the legislation, but we need to put a full package in place.

I apologise as my mobile telephone is ringing.

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