Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

To answer the Deputy's question directly, we have and will intervene where there is market failure. We did that with the national broadband scheme, the value of which was approximately €0.25 billion. The Government and the company, 3, worked together and that scheme has been delivered on time and is working.

We have invested in schemes such as Project Kelvin, which is another major scheme which will ensure there is fast connectivity between North America and Ireland. We have invested in our schools and under the commitment given in the programme for Government we will ensure there is 100Mbps connectivity in every secondary school in the country because that is the type of investment that works. It is market neutral, it helps various different players, it is technology neutral and it lifts the ability of our students to use this axis network. Therefore, we will invest. We will sit consult with the industry to work out what is the best way of doing that. This will also free up the industry's investment potential because it has a large amount invested on an ongoing basis. That is what we have to keep doing because this is working.

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