Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies for their interesting contributions. Deputies O'Rourke and Ó Murchú raised the question of nuisance calls, scam texts and scam calls, and asked for an update in that regard. Last year, I convened a meeting of the mobile operators, the head of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, the head of the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau and ComReg. We set up a task force to deal with the problem, which is widespread and increased during the pandemic. The result is not just inconvenience, as it is for most of us, because some vulnerable people have had their identities compromised and their entire life savings stolen. It is a serious issue. I know a number of recommendations are coming forward from the task force and will be presented to me in the coming weeks. I am looking forward to seeing what is happening in that regard. I know the Garda has co-operated with the National Crime Agency in the UK because it seemed that gangs were perpetrating similar crimes in the two countries from another jurisdiction. We were sharing law enforcement information. There has been a reduction in the number of nuisance calls and texts but I would like to see them minimised further and cracked down upon. There are a number of recommendations coming and I look forward to strong action in that area.

Deputies Ó Murchú and O'Rourke also asked about the potential penalties from the European Commission because of the late transposition of this legislation. We received notification from the EU in April and last month we issued the regulations that are required for the transposition. The Attorney General tells us we need to have primary legislation to give full effect to these measures and that is why we are discussing the matter today. There are no penalties so far. The strongest response we can make to late transposition is to make legislative progress. We have issued the regulations already. We have published and signed them and we are working on the primary legislation today.

The Deputies also asked about the costs we have incurred to date, which is a question for the Office of the Chief State Solicitor. I will follow up and see what I can find on that issue.

Deputy Gould welcomed the Bill and praised ComReg. He also emphasised that we need to ensure the individual, the ordinary person, is being protected. That is the purpose of this legislation. People are extremely unhappy with the customer service they have received from their communications companies. That is not only the case for one company. The sector as a whole is at the bottom of a list of sectors for performance in customer service. Communication has now become a utility. It is absolutely vital for people to have access to their communications in order to work or study from home. This Bill lays down standards for communications companies and failure to comply with them will result in penalties. In practice, it means that if citizens receive poor treatment from their communications companies, they should be automatically compensated financially by that company and if that does not work, people will be able to take civil action through a dispute resolution system that will be simple and easy to use. The purpose is to move the balance of power towards the consumer and away from these companies.

Deputy Bacik welcomed the Bill and emphasised the need for citizens' information services. She expressed worry that as we move Government services online, some people who are unable to go online will find their services are closed down. I assure her that our intention and policy are to ensure that Government services are fully inclusive and we do not exclude anybody because they do not have access to a computer. Another Deputy asked about charging for bills. One of the communications companies has announced that it will charge customers who wish to receive a paper copy of a bill. We need to look into that matter.

Deputy Bacik also mentioned that the legal profession is sometimes slow to digitise. I have been looking across different sectors and trying to figure out how to bring them all online. The particular problem with the legal sector - and this is the case in all countries - is that there is a large amount of legislation governing its procedures. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle is an expert in this area. Things must be done in a way that makes no sense or is inefficient. For example, everybody must show up in court on a certain day instead of sending an email to each other. That is because such a procedure is provided for in legislation. Making progress on digitising the legal profession requires that an enormous quantity of legislation be passed. That can present a barrier. The Courts Service, which has a new chief information officer, is making great progress. The courts.iewebsite is being improved and all of the points where the legal system interacts with the citizen are being focused on at the moment.

Deputy Bacik brought up the very important question of penalties for loyalty, whereby a customer is penalised at the end of the year for staying with the same provider. In fact, this Bill states that when contracts comes to an end, every communications provider will have to write to customers to tell them what the best packages are for them and advise them which tariff they should change to in order to make sure people are not penalised for loyalty.

The question on price flows from people thinking about the CRU and the regulation of price for customers and so on. What should a reasonable price be and will regulation extend to price? For the first time, this legislation will require that broadband be available to everybody. We have never had a universal broadband obligation. We have had a universal telephone service obligation, which has been good as it meant people living in a remote area could get a telephone service no matter where they lived in the country. The same will apply in future. Wherever people live in the country, they are entitled by right and by law to a broadband service that is adequate and affordable. The question of what is adequate and affordable is up to the Minister to define in regulation. It will be up to the Minister to set out in regulations what is an affordable and adequate service.

Deputy Naughten asked what the definition of high-speed broadband is. High-speed broadband might have been 30 MB some years ago but it is not now. The commission is saying that everybody should have gigabit broadband by 2030. Nationally, we have said a number of things. The draft communications strategy for the country has been out for public consultation and while a final version has not been published, it is due to be published soon. What has been put out in draft is that by 2028 everybody in Ireland will have gigabit broadband. In rural areas, in the intervention areas covered by NBI, everybody should have 500 MB broadband by 2026. That is the intention of the national broadband plan.

There is then a possibility that there will be people in black-spot urban areas who do not have broadband at a time when we will have reached 100% coverage under the national broadband plan. That plan is designed in such a way that providers must complete an area in full before they get their payment. They cannot leave anybody out, which is in marked contrast to what is happening in commercial areas, where a commercial operator could be providing fibre broadband on a street and then reach a point where the last person on that street is rather hard to provide for, and that operator just turns the truck around and connects up somebody who is a little easier. What such operators are doing as a result of this is leaving little black spots all around our urban areas, towns, villages and cities. I want to send a signal today to the fixed broadband and fibre broadband suppliers that if they do this, they will find at a later time that they will be required to go back to those places, at great expense, and connect those people who were left out. It is not a sensible long-term policy or strategy for those companies to find themselves at a point where they are legally required to go back to connect up those customers they left out because they thought it was in their short-term interest on that day to leave the last person at the end of the cul-de-sac disconnected from their network. I strongly advise anybody who is deploying fibre broadband not to leave streets and areas with little black spots that they will have to come back to complete in the same way we would not paint a wall and leave holes in it for the next day. That is my message to the broadband companies today.

Deputy Bruton asked for a cross-government audit on the effectiveness of all consumer regulators. It is an interesting suggestion and one I am happy to talk to him about outside the House.

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