Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Communications; Energy and Natural Resources the way this country will achieve its target for high speed internet access without significant Government capital investment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37814/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Government policy on the development of the electronic communications market, including next generation broadband services, is set out in "Next Generation Broadband – Gateway to a Knowledge Ireland", which I published in June 2009. The policy paper was developed in accordance with various key principles, which are crucial to the development of the market including: competition, at platform and service levels, which drives innovation and investment; investment certainty for service providers considering investing in network infrastructure; investment intervention by Government to bridge any digital divide in cases of market failure and to meet the State's own communication needs; and also appropriate regulation.

This policy has facilitated significant progress in rolling out broadband services, including increased speeds, over recent years. For example, at the end of June 2010, Ireland had in the region of 1.48 million broadband subscriptions. The year-on-year growth in subscriptions over the preceding 12 month period was over 16.5%. Internationally, Ireland ranks 11th of the EU 27 for per capita broadband penetration in composite fixed and mobile services, fourth for mobile only penetration, and 14th for fixed broadband penetration.

This progress, measured in international comparisons, is also demonstrated in a recent study of broadband services in 72 countries by the University of Oxford and the University of Oviedo, Spain, which ranks Ireland 13th of the 72 countries studied, ahead of France, Canada, the United States and the UK. The study considered broadband quality, that is, download speeds, upload speeds, and latency, and broadband penetration to map the world's broadband leaders. Ireland is also grouped among the top ten broadband movers since 2009 with 88% broadband penetration, or 11% increase on the previous year.

More generally, of the homes with broadband connections, 77.8% of them and 85.8% of small businesses are using broadband speeds between 2mbps and 10mbps. UPC is providing speeds of up to 30mbps and is rolling out speeds of up to 100mbps under the new DOCSIS 3 platform. Eircom and the Vodafone/BT alliance are both rolling out speeds of up to 24Mbps using vDSL technology. In the wireless market, Imagine have launched WiMAX, a broadband product with speeds of up to 8mbps available. In addition, Eircom has recently launched an Ethernet product offering speeds of up to and exceeding 1Gbps to wholesale customers and to high-bandwidth users.

The next generation broadband policy paper also proposed the establishment of a next generation broadband taskforce comprising industry, Government and ComReg. The taskforce can facilitate a collaborative approach to investment in the development of high speed and high quality broadband in Ireland to meet the demands of Ireland's smart economy by enabling wider customer access to next generation networks. I signalled earlier this month that I now propose to establish the taskforce and the first meeting of the taskforce will be held shortly.

A number of important national and EU developments have come to pass since the next generation broadband policy paper was published. These developments will underpin and inform the work of the taskforce. They include greater clarity from the EU Commission on the regulation of next generation access; revised guidelines from the EU Commission on State Aid for broadband; an outline radio spectrum policy programme from the EU Commission; and completion of the roll-out of the national broadband scheme. These developments provide greater long term clarity to investors on the regulatory rules which will apply to next generation networks.

I am confident that the clarity provided by the EU Commission on the long-term regulatory environment for investments in next generation networks will enable our taskforce to explore investor co-operation in the market in Ireland to deliver an efficient next generation access network.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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It is a pity the Minister did not answer the question I tabled. He read out a list of what other people have done. My question was clear. I asked, "the way this country will achieve its target for high speed Internet access without significant Government capital investment".

The Telecommunications and Internet Federation, TIF, has bluntly said that achieving the EU target of 30Mbps for 100% of the population by 2020 and 100Mbps for 30% of the population will cost €1.5 billion. When will the Minister realise that the State will have to put its hand in its pocket at some stage to provide connections for those additional areas? It is easy for the industry to provide broadband connections for the urban areas but it will not do so for our population distributed in rural areas. The Minister can make a decision not to fund such connections but he is prepared to fund other aspects of his brief. He does not seem to be prepared to fund any aspect of this brief.

I again ask the Minister, at what stage and by how much is he prepared to fund the area of next generation broadband for the areas the industry will not reach?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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With respect, Deputy, in this area of my brief, a major international study has just recognised that we practically doubled our broadband speeds in the last two years. We have practically tripled the number of broadband connections in the past three and a half years.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I asked a question on-----

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We have improved year on year to the point where we are 13th in its rankings of countries.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is referring to another matter.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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When the Minister concludes I will call the Deputy to ask a supplementary question.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Therefore, when it comes to my record in this brief, I will stand proud of those achievements and getting the policy approach right.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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That is not the question I asked.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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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.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is a wonderful bluffer - there is no getting away from it. He did not answer the question I asked. The TIF has calculated that €1.5 billion will be required. Two thirds of such funding will be required for civil works which will involve guys using diggers and shovels. Such funding will result in work for such people and when that work is done it also will provide jobs for this country. The Government and the Minister's Department seem to be allergic to providing jobs. I ask the Minister again, this being my third occasion to do so, at what stage does he expect to intervene, given that the industry has said it will not provide all the funding required? It will provide some of the €1.5 billion required but it will not and cannot provide it all. At what stage will the Minister intervene and how much funding will he ensure is provided?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The figures I quoted were from a major international study. Those are not figures I have given, rather they have been cited by an outside group which noted that we had doubled our speeds, tripled our broadband penetration and that we were consistently going up the league table.

Second, in terms of jobs, last year in the depths of our recession, when the overall e-economy fell by 8% or 9 % , jobs in the ICT industry in this country went up 6%, which is 6% of 75,000 jobs. Therefore, we are achieving in terms of turning policy in this area into jobs. Last week I was in my area of Sandyford last week where the company Salesforce employed an extra 150 people. I can refer to other such companies.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Minister should visit rural areas.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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That is the reality of what is happening on the ground. That is what the University of Oxford noted in its study, which was an independent process.

Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Minister should travel to rural Ireland.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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Allow the Minister to conclude.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I have answered the Deputy's question and gave examples of where we will invest, namely, where there is market failure, particularly if a certain area or sector is left behind. We will invest because we want to get ahead of the game and we will provide public service ICT infrastructure in our schools in particular but also in other areas. That is where the State can invest to create the demand for these services that will create efficiencies. We do this in our own business by cutting our costs by improving our own ICT services. Those kinds of investment are the ones that help lift demand and make this happen.

Séamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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That completes priority questions. We will move on to Other Questions.