Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I second this crucial motion and thank my colleague, Senator Ross, for tabling it. The Cathaoirleach probably did not read the Government amendment very closely because he would have ruled it out of order if he had. It is an astonishing amendment. At the very least, I ask the Minister of State to remove the third section, which states: "after a late start Ireland's rate of broadband take-up is continuing to accelerate". That is factually incorrect. We were second last in Europe last year and in the same position this year. It is not a matter of take-up but of availability. The Minister of State should not blame the public because there is no problem with take-up when broadband is available. I live 15 miles from here, yet I cannot get broadband. I have a satellite one-way dial-up system which barely works. When I travel around the country, I find that services are hit and miss. Sometimes a 3G data card will work at 3G level but more commonly it is at GPRS or dial-up level. The situation is absolutely appalling but this amendment suggests that the Government is not committed to addressing the issue.

During the debate on the sale of Eircom, I made a similar point about the information super highway, as it was known in those days. I said that I did not see Dr. O'Reilly bringing broadband to Belmullet or Dingle because it would not be worth his while to do so. That is exactly what is happening.

Senator Ross correctly pointed out that economic growth is being inhibited. Some people cannot participate in economic growth because of their location. Women who could work from home if broadband was available are being prevented from returning to the economy. Figures show that we are constantly dropping behind.

The amendment makes reference to ComReg. It should be noted that, in addition to the second worst broadband availability, Ireland also has the largest mobile telephone bills and highest line rental charges in Europe. These issues are related because when I cannot connect to the internet with my 3G card, I have to use my mobile telephone at very significant cost. Similarly, people use dial-up connections when they should have an always-on connection with broadband. The Government is exacerbating the situation in terms of telephone bills.

It would be easy to make an always-on up and down broadband service available to every house in Ireland through satellite. I am not impressed by the municipal local area networks because they address the problem only in small towns while using a lot of unnecessary wires. We could provide broadband by satellite if we had the will to do so.

We should give close consideration to the points made by Senator Ross. Economic growth is being inhibited and the country is being made less attractive for investors and industry. Crucially, research and development is being hindered. It is also inhibiting postgraduate, particularly postdoctoral, research that is crucial to economic growth in this country. It makes the delivery of public services more expensive and inhibits the development of e-commerce. The European position is that the use of broadband in the delivery of public services and the development of e-commerce to allow business outsourcing, has a positive impact on regional development, traffic congestion and economic development in the regions. Ireland has signed up to this but nothing is happening because of the lack of broadband. Teleworking, growing at an extraordinary rate in Europe, is inhibited in Ireland because of the lack of broadband. It is preventing women from returning to the workforce.

We must allow access to broadband if we are to develop modern industry. This morning I spoke to someone who lives in the constituency of the Minister of State. He undertook postdoctoral research in California. He wishes to set up a company in Ireland and broadband is crucial to him. It will be a success story but he cannot develop his company in that constituency. It is not a problem in the ether, it affects every constituency. Access to broadband stimulates economic growth, boosting productivity, creating employment and assisting the economic growth of regional areas. Broadband is of crucial importance to the Government's programme of expansion and gateway towns. The problem is that we fell behind in this area.