Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his reply. I note he said such provision was a priority. I have been listening to that since I was elected to this House two and a half years ago. The time for sermonising and high rhetoric has long since passed. The Minister should learn from the old saying we often use in the country, namely, that actions speak louder than words. He mentioned there were 86 MANs in the country. Can he advise how many of them are connected and in operation at present? What is happening under phase III of MANs in the case of towns such as Thurles where there is no MAN system. Forfás has said that despite recent progress "Ireland continues to lag behind competitor regions in range, speed and cost of broadband", and it includes Dublin in that respect. I ask the Minister to confirm or deny that he and his Government are discriminating against rural Ireland and the mid-west region in particular, as was stated by the chief executive of the agency recently, when he said in a briefing that the strongest and most serious impediment to creating jobs and to maintaining existing jobs in the mid-west region was the lack of a decent broadband service. A direct international dial-up service is not available in the region.

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