Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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My issue follows on the one raised by Deputy Michael Moynihan. I thank the Minister for his presence and I am delighted to have the opportunity to raise this issue.

I am concerned that some of my constituents in Dublin Bay North and people on the northside of Dublin are not able to access fast and consistent broadband services. Residents in Bettyglen, Maywood and on the Howth Road in Raheny, Dublin 5 have contacted me about the poor quality broadband available to them, with many only having access to speeds of less than 3 Mbps. This is as a result of a delay in the roll-out of fibre-optic broadband in the area by eircom. As we know, Raheny is less than 5 km from the city centre, yet the broadband speeds available are extremely poor, prevent people from doing business from home and affect students in their education and access to the Internet. A constituent who is running a small business from his home has developed an online presence. He has told me he frequently works in and travels to Africa and that there faster broadband speeds in Malawi than in his home in Raheny. The delay has been caused by the refusal of Dublin City Council to grant a licence to eircom to construct an additional cabinet at the junction of Maywood Road and Maywood Grove in order to provide for a fibre-optic upgrade for Internet users in Bettyglen. I ask the Minister to intervene to ensure all councils work with providers - eircom in this case - to resolve these matters. Constituents are not getting answers from Internet providers, including eircom, UPC or Sky, on whether improved speeds will be available in the area soon. As Deputy Michael Moynihan said, people are continuing to pay very high monthly subscriptions - in this case, to eircom - for a poor service, while neighbours living a few roads away have a much better and speedier service.

Eircom informed me recently that while the area was set to receive eFibre services, it did not have a date for the provision of services. It states this is because of the uncertainty surrounding the placement of cabinets and the provision of electricity. Obviously, a compromise has to be reached on the provision of infrastructure to ensure customers receive a better service. Constituents in Howth, particularly on Windgate Road, where speeds of no more than 100 kbps are available, are concerned that they are not able to access the same service as neighbours on adjoining roads. These are professionals who are looking to do business and students who are trying to access various websites for educational purposes. I am sure the Minister will acknowledge that there are pockets in Dublin where there is a lack of services, which is very unfair. I very much welcome his response to the previous Topical Issue about the national broadband plan and the aim to ensure high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses, but there are issues and pockets where there are problems and I am glad to have the opportunity to highlight them directly with him. I know the State will only intervene to ensure access to broadband services in areas where the competitive market fails to deliver such services, but in this case a council is refusing to give planning permission for the provision of cabinets. I do not know if there is a section in the Minister's Department which would be able to deal with these very real issues in different parts of Dublin.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I welcome the Deputy ventilating this issue. I did not know from the Topical Issue raised, which refers to the northside of Dublin, that he was referring specifically to Bettyglen and a couple of black spots in Howth, where Gay Byrne goes for a walk. If the Deputy tables particular parliamentary questions to me, I will see what I can do.

The northside of Dublin is, in many ways, a state of mind and, generally, is immensely well provided for in terms of the provision of broadband, but the Deputy is right that there are gaps. The eircom programme for the roll-out of eFibre, to which the Deputy referred, is especially exciting. As he knows, fibre-optic is the Rolls Royce of the system. Eircom is getting on with the task and committed to passing 1.4 million homes. I cannot tell the Deputy off the top of my head what the delay in roll-out is in the case of Bettyglen, but I can have a look at the matter and he can also pursue it by way of parliamentary questions.

The Deputy has acknowledged that the State is not a service provider in this market and can only intervene in cases where there is a demonstrable market failure. A great deal of progress has been made and the national broadband plan is a clear expression of the importance of ubiquitous quality broadband to the achievement of our economic and social objectives. The Deputy has referred to the fact that some business people are hampered in the particular areas about which he is concerned. Our commitment is to deliver high speed or next generation broadband services across the country by ensuring the environment is right to maximise investment by the private sector and by State-led investment in those areas where it is evident that the market will not deliver.

Since publication of the plan, fixed line and wireless telecommunications providers have accelerated the roll-out of high speed services. The landscape for quality broadband provision, in particular in urban areas, including Dublin, has changed dramatically as a consequence. There have been a number of significant developments, for example, the programme to which the Deputy referred, eircom's eFibre programme. New technology is allowing eircom to deliver speeds of up to 100 Mbps. Some 700,000 premises can now avail of its next generation broadband services.

I understand that Eircom has rolled out high-speed broadband services in a great many areas of north Dublin, or rather, northside Dublin. Eircom also advises that it is planning to offer high-speed services in Clontarf, Santry, Summerhill, Phibsboro and some smaller rural communities in north County Dublin, which I suspect are some of the black spot areas about which Deputy Flanagan is concerned. UPC is also investing in the network. Almost 700,000 homes now have access to its fibre-enabled cable services and this is set to grow to 750,000. It has a wide footprint in the Dublin area and more than 43% of Irish homes can now access the UPC network. Mobile operators are rolling out enhanced product offerings, with Meteor, 3 and Vodafone having recently launched 4G mobile broadband services which are capable of delivering significantly higher mobile data speeds. Vodafone is also upgrading its 3G services. Sky has entered the broadband market, offering services over the unbundled Eircom network and providing intense competition in the marketplace, which is also driving investment. Fixed wireless broadband providers are also providing dedicated broadband services to customers. Earlier, Deputy Moynihan referred to the initiative we have taken with the ESB in a joint venture with a leading telecommunications company.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his thorough response. I am happy that the Minister has indicated his willingness to discuss with the county councils the cases in which planning permission has been refused to service providers wishing to upgrade their networks to provide a better service to their customers. The real issue is the cost of broadband, which must be looked at. There is also a problem in certain neighbourhoods with the speed available on one road being far superior to that on adjoining roads. In those circumstances, people feel they are paying a high price but are not receiving the same level of service. That must be dealt with.

Does the Minister have an indicative date for Eircom's plans to roll out the eFibre programme? What plans does the Minister have to deal with the overall cost of broadband? As Deputy Moynihan pointed out earlier, the cost of broadband services here is the third highest in Europe. Given that the Government is focused on improving our economic competitiveness, the high cost of broadband vis-à-vis our European neighbours is deserving of more attention. Having said that, I welcome the fact that there are so many providers involved in the market now. The market is competitive, but how will prices be driven down? Is there anything that the Minister can do in that regard? The quality of the service is also important; homeowners are looking for a decent broadband service.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I do not disagree with Deputy Flanagan. He is right in saying that we have to encourage as much competition in this market as we can. I welcome the entry of a new player, which is important. The sector itself acknowledges that it is not commercially viable to provide a service in particular parts of the country and therefore State intervention is necessary. I sincerely hope that when the broadband plan is in place it will address those issues. I must commend the investment programme to which Eircom has committed, notwithstanding the recent history of that company. It is a big success that it is maintaining that investment programme and maintaining the commitment to roll out its fibre network to more than 1.4 million homes. UPC now has a very large footprint, including in Deputy Flanagan's part of Dublin. I made reference to the mobile providers as well.

The Deputy is correct to point out that each member state of the European Union is different. All we can do is to ensure we have a functioning, competitive market, and all the signs are that we are heading in that direction.