Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This motion is necessary to deal with specific amendments. A fair amount has been put into the public domain by my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, in particular, on the digital hub and the fear of lost good, initiatives from a part of Dublin and that will need to be addressed.

Across the board, we all welcome parts of this Bill in dealing with European directives and codes that need to be transposed into law. We all know with telecommunications, we are dealing with something that changes rapidly, almost on a day-by-day basis. We are in a very different world in respect of telecommunications than we were five, ten, 15 years ago, never mind 20 years ago. It is very difficult for legislation, on a European level, never mind on a domestic level, to keep up with that.

One of the major things we need to ensure in the context of commercial operators or those who provide services to citizens is that they are of top quality and are exactly where they need to be. From time to time, this means some of these companies will need to be held to account and the only means of doing that, as we have discovered from dealing with the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, and others, is to provide teeth to ComReg. That relates to the modalities and protocols, which they can use to take action against companies that infringe or do not deliver the required service, particularly in the case of something that is absolutely necessary. This was realised, across the board, in relation to communications and was highlighted during the pandemic, a period when many people were remote working. We knew there were issues with services offered by Eir. The fact is that ComReg did not have the teeth to address these issues. The piece that one does not want to see in operation, but which is sometimes necessary, is the big stick. From a company's perspective, the only thing that counts is money. We welcome all the necessary measures on that.

There is general support across the sector for much of this Bill. There have been a number of changes to what we will be dealing with. People are talking about security and networks. That is another part of the world in which we are in a different set of circumstances compared to previous times and everyone understands the necessity for being able to maintain network security.

Something I am going to put into the mix relates to a number of issues. Obviously, a lead-in time must be provided to companies operating this system and for best practice. There is no point in us not giving them sufficient run-in time, which could take a couple of months, to make sure they are given all the information they need to ensure their systems can do the business and have the necessary processes in order that they are in compliance with this. If that is not the case, we could end up creating a set of circumstances in the short term where people are in breach of rules due to a technicality, and that needs to be looked into.

On networks and security, questions will be raised about some of the wants and needs and what is expected, such as why some vendors can be used and some cannot. There will be a need for a wider conversation on that. An awful lot of operators across Europe that are dealing with networks and communications already limit some of the technology they use in the core, secure and vital part of the communications network. If a determination is made, and much of this power will lie with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that the technology of certain companies cannot be used, we will not need to get into the rights and wrongs on that. The Minister at some point will probably have to get into what led to this, what the worries are and where that information is provided.

On another level, if certain technologies cannot be used, we must ensure they can be replaced and sufficient time would be provided. We all know the supply chain issues that have arisen recently. It is vital that this would be considered. In an awful lot of cases, technology is used on the basis that it is probably the best in the market, the most reliable and trustworthy. From a European point of view, that is probably only one company that can deliver some of these alternative technologies. It would be under pressure in relation to two issues, namely, in ensuring its innovation levels are on a par with some alternative technologies and the significant supply chain issues.

Then there is the cost, which also has to be taken into account. I assume there will be an element of sense to this and that, when the legislation is in place, the Minister will not make an absolute determination that everything has to be replaced by next Wednesday but I would like a bit of a conversation and a bit more information as to how the Minister of State foresees those added powers actually being applied.

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