Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister and I am pleased to note it is his first visit to the new Seanad. I hope we will see more of him. I am a little concerned that, as Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, he has been given a very wide brief, but in view of his experience I am pleased he has been appointed to this Department.

I speak on this topic with some experience of communications. As chairman of An Post from 1979 to 1989, I recognised the speed at which things change. As I recall, we started making three and five year plans for An Post in 1985. At the time we had never heard of the fax machine and our big worry was that couriers were taking away our business. When I planned my re-election campaign to the Seanad, I started by writing to all the graduates I could trace. I asked my 24 year old son, a graduate of UCD, to write to all his friends with degrees. He told me that none of them writes, they use text messages or e-mail. He did not think any of them even had pens. It is a reminder of how quickly things can change and how fast we must act if we are to succeed. Some years ago Singapore identified that it wanted to become the digital hub of Asia. It took appropriate steps to achieve this, recognising that coming generations would not write because they would communicate in a different way.

I welcome the Bill, especially as it sends a much needed signal to the outside world that the Government is serious about the digital hub project and that it intends to pursue it vigorously and to completion. There is a danger it may falter because it may be regarded as a pet project of the Taoiseach. Given the dismal failure at Abbotstown, that may be the kiss of death.