Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I was not here yesterday for the Order of Business but I associate myself with the comments made by my colleague, Senator White, regarding Carlow. I ask for a debate with the Minister for Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources on the matter of directory inquiries and ComReg.

A high percentage of the population have mobile phones but we are forced to go through numbers such as 11850 and 11811 to get mobile numbers. Perhaps it is time for us to have telephone directories listing mobile phone numbers, for those people who want such numbers listed. There are large costs involved currently. It might cost up to €1.30 to telephone a number such as 11850 from a mobile number and even if a person is connected, he or she could pay 21 cent per minute afterwards. This is an example of a rip-off.