Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last Monday, Tourism Ireland announced that it has acquired the Ireland.com domain name from The Irish Times, in a deal worth almost €500,000. In doing so, Tourism Ireland has greatly inconvenienced as many as 15,000 Ireland.com domain users who have been told they are about to lose their e-mail addresses. The Minister may be able to provide us with more information on this.

The users who have been in contact with me have indicated that from 7 November people who have had @ireland.com as part of their e-mail address will have to change it. It is imperative that the Minister act to ensure that Tourism Ireland's purchase of the Ireland.com domain address does not deprive these customers of a valuable service. Instead of shutting down the domain address, the service should be enhanced and promoted. People who have been promoting Ireland through this address should not be punished as a result of the purchase by Tourism Ireland, ultimately the State, of the domain address.

There are many benefits of the @ireland.com element of an e-mail address. It has been used as a service by many within the Irish diaspora. I know many people who are proud to have the element @ireland.com, and the resource could be expanded and used as a tool to encourage people to come to Ireland as part of the Gathering. Many people use the element in their e-mail address, and more would do so if they were aware of it.

I hope Tourism Ireland's purchase will lead to an enhanced service being made available. It has huge advertising potential for Tourism Ireland and I hope we will hear more about that.

I have received correspondence from a number of concerned e-mail account holders who have been told their service will be withdrawn before Christmas. It is important that some clarity be brought to the situation at the earliest possible opportunity to allay any fears that are there. There are others who, if the service is not to be continued, will have to change stationery and find another service provider. Finding a new service provider may not be expensive but the ancillary costs of having stationery re-printed would be a nuisance and an annoyance.

As the Minister knows, these types of operators, some of them with only two or three staff, are the last people we wish to inconvenience at present.

Clearly, two groups have the most to lose. One is the diaspora, and the huge opportunity that exists there, and the other is small and medium enterprises, some of them single-owner type operations, which will be put to considerable expense if they cannot retain that e-mail address. I appeal to the Minister to examine the real potential here. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, is present too. He keeps in regular contact with many in the diaspora, probably by e-mail in some cases, and he will be very aware of the importance of its retention. Hopefully, we can find a solution here. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response. I will try not to be critical until I have at least had an opportunity to hear it.

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