Results 4,501-4,520 of 11,242 for speaker:Noel Dempsey

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The commissioners examined the matter at my request and decided they could handle it without causing too much damage in the market by putting a protocol in place to help protect customers should a similar situation arise in the future. That protocol seeks to manage the risks associated with such a situation and to try to minimise disruption to customers. There was no statutory provision at...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy is right. That is the reason I will not accept this amendment. There is no point in having three bodies responsible for this area. In addition to that, the Data Protection Commissioner also has some strong investigatory and prosecution powers with regard to unsolicited electronic communications for direct marketing purposes. Amendment No. 11 is unnecessary. What it proposes...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: On amendment No. 13, I understood from what the Deputies said on this amendment that they were concerned about local loop unbundling.

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: This is already legally mandated. Responsibility for the promotion and regulation of local loop unbundling lies with ComReg under section 10(4) of the Communications Regulation Act 2002 and the transposed EU regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services. Access to Eircom's or any other operator's network is governed by the directives that comprise the EU...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: It will be a tendering process. It would not be advisable to come into the House and suggest we were willing to pay millions of euro to somebody to provide this service and provide them with a map showing the last 10% or 15% of the country which needs to be covered by broadband and invite offers. It would not be very smart to intimate the amount we would pay as it might be possible that...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: I assure the Deputies opposite that the Taoiseach's speech, which was so well received by most of the public and which so upset the Opposition——

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: ——is only a small portion of the very considerable policy manifesto Fianna Fáil will be putting before the people in a few months. The Deputies should not be too upset at this stage. They will be very upset — they will probably have a nervous breakdown — by the time the election is called given that they are becoming so excited now. I thank Deputy Broughan for his customary...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy will be aware that there were 63,600 broadband subscribers in 2004 but there is now much more than 500,000. When the Deputy is still in opposition next December I will expect that figure to be approximately 700,000.

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy is probably considerably younger than me but he is incorrect when he states that people are forced to wait longer for a telephone now than in the mid-1970s when his colleague was Minister for Posts and Telegraphs and there were waiting lists of up to five and seven years in my area——

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: ——when I was a young county councillor in the mid to late 1970s. I inform the Deputy of that fact because he is such a young fellow.

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy is looking in the wrong direction for it.

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: I thank Deputy Broughan for his acknowledgement we have taken a step forward in respect of the matter to which amendment No. 10 relates. I do not disagree with Members regarding the levels of service that are sometimes given by telecommunications companies. I take on board Deputy Broughan's point that when customers contact companies they are transferred from Billy to Jack. Such behaviour...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: I do not propose to accept the amendments because the purpose of this section is solely to obtain information to formulate policies and plans to deal with emergencies and network security issues. Deputy Broughan referred to MANs and his amendment regarding the provision of information on the technical and financial performance of such networks. That is covered by way of contract between the...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Yes. All the networks would have been constructed by now only for the many questions asked in Brussels by people who do not like the concept. The Commission, in turn, asked the Government many questions, which we answered. We received the all clear from Brussels from a state aid point of view but that took 12 months. The only stipulation laid down by the Commission regarding the second...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: We dealt with this previously and I gave an undertaking to the Deputy with regard to this type of condition being included in authorisation. The same applies to this amendment. I will not accept the amendment for the reasons I stated previously. I reiterate what I stated about asking ComReg to amend authorisations to take this into account and give due notice.

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputy raised this matter previously and argued his case. An indication was given that we would consult further, which we did. We received further legal advice on the issue from the Office of the Attorney General, which indicates that section 13E(3) is a standard provision in legislation allowing for a ministerial application to derogate from the common law defence that an applicant for...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: The Deputies have confirmed my assumption that they were referring to the Whistleblowers Protection Bill 1999. The provision for the protection of whistleblowers in this Bill follows a Government decision on 3 March 2006, which stated that all legislation in preparation should, where relevant, include provisions for the protection of whistleblowers. For the purpose of this Bill,...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: It could be a referee.

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Deputy Broughan is correct, but while we know what a whistleblower is, putting it into words in a Bill might have a negative effect. We would need to define all of the circumstances in which someone might make a disclosure. I can imagine what lawyers might attempt to do in respect of someone who discloses this type of information. If we include a definition, the lawyers will examine it...

Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (27 Mar 2007)

Noel Dempsey: Deputy Broughan described it well in talking about how to define an elephant on paper. Writing a definition of a whistleblower might provide someone an opportunity to argue the case. While the information was of a nature that it should have been disclosed, people could get off on a technicality through a lawyer's argument that the person who disclosed the information did not fit the...