John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I join with previous speakers in thanking the Independent Members for tabling this motion. As one who represents a rural constituency, I come up against the broadband issue daily. I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. He represents a constituency with a large rural area and I am sure he comes up against the same problem. I am disappointed by the nature of the Government amendment which seeks to commend the Government's action in this regard. However, there has been a startling inaction by Government in providing broadband coverage throughout the country. The amendment also commends the role of private operators but I do not think there is much to commend in that respect.

I am disappointed by some of the comments made earlier. Broadband is a major issue in my constituency. Senator Mooney spoke about Leitrim and said the rest of us come from more technologically advanced areas, but I do not accept that. I come from County Kilkenny, large parts of which are not covered by broadband in any shape or form, either wireless or landline. Senator Kenneally will be familiar with most of south County Kilkenny.

I have received many representations from business people in south County Kilkenny who cannot get a broadband connection. Not a week goes by that I do not get a few more people contacting me about such difficulties. The problem we have with broadband coverage goes directly back to the privatisation of Telecom Éireann and the catastrophic error that was made to privatise the network in advance of unbundling the local loop. It does not have anything to do with making hay and even if it did I do not think the Government would be able to manage that much at this stage. That cataclysmic error, which effectively placed the public network in the hands of a private monopoly, has landed us in the current situation.

Senators Mooney and Quinn mentioned the possibility of the Government becoming directly involved in markets generally. Traditionally, I have not been in favour of such action but there is a compelling case for the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to ensure that Eircom provides broadband connections in every part of the country, not just cities and towns. By and large, most of our urban areas are covered, although there are specific difficulties in such areas also. Rural areas are not covered, however. There is no question of private operators becoming involved in providing broadband coverage to rural Stoneyford in south County Kilkenny. It will not happen. If the Government's policy objective is for private business to ensure broadband coverage for Inistioge in County Kilkenny, we are living in cloud cuckoo land because it will not be provided. Last week, I received a call from a businessman there who does not have a broadband connection. The error was made back when Telecom Éireann was privatised. Clearly, the network should not have been sold off with the rest of the company. In the current situation, we must examine every possible solution to the problem. I concur with Senator Quinn who said we must look at drastic things such as the State funding large parts of the country that do not have a broadband service.

It is more than a little patronising to hear the usual Government line from Senator Mooney that people should shop around. Try telling that to people in areas not served by broadband. I know of one man who employed ten people in a horticultural business in Stoneyford, south Kilkenny, but he cannot obtain a broadband connection despite having tried for five years in that particular area. I wish that man was here to listen to Senator Mooney telling people to shop around. Such a man does not want to shop around. He wants one company — any company at more or less any price — to provide him with that service, yet nobody will do it.

We get reams of answers from Eircom telling us that such an area is not on its list of exchanges to be upgraded. There does not seem to be any exchange in Kilkenny that is scheduled for upgrading in the next 12 months, although the situation in Carlow is somewhat better. As previous speakers have said, that will be catastrophic, particularly for small businesses.

I found some of the earlier remarks from the Government side very patronising. It was stated that the reason we have such low broadband connectivity in this country is that people do not have PCs in their homes but that is sidestepping the substantive issue. Many people do not have PCs in their homes because they know there is no possibility of getting a broadband connection. It is a chicken and egg situation but we need to ensure the service is provided for consumers across the land. There should not be a division between the eastern half of the country and the western half. I live in the south east and most of the area I represent has no coverage whatsoever, despite what we have heard from Government spokespersons in this debate.

Government speakers have mentioned the increase that has taken place in the level of broadband penetration. Given that we have started from a low base, of course there has been an increase but it is minimal. We had a broadband penetration of approximately 9% in June while the European average is 14%. In Finland, where two thirds of the country is virtually uninhabited and a large area is inhospitable due to climate, there is 24% coverage. There is 27% coverage in the Netherlands and 29% in Denmark. How is it that in Ireland where we have made huge technological advances, have been at the cutting edge of the IT sector for ten to 15 years, and have been recognised as world leaders, our broadband penetration is 8%? It is an incredible indictment of the efforts of this and the previous Government that the figure is not much higher. If we do not act quickly this will have a dramatic effect on the Irish economy.

During the past 12 to 18 months there has been a dramatic fall in Ireland's position in terms of global competitiveness. We have gone from being in a position where we were competitive to a position where we are not quite so competitive. One of the reasons is that companies cannot be assured of 365 days per year coverage for broadband. If the Government does not tackle the issue in the immediate future the economic situation could take a downturn for many small businesses that operate throughout the length and breadth of the land.