Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

Senator O'Toole spoke about the telecommunications issues being faced by Eircom and Smart Telecom, which is an issue I raised yesterday. As Senator O'Toole said, people should not be surprised by the attitude and approach being taken by Babcock & Brown in this regard. I am surprised by another aspect of the matter, however. Regulators have been established across a wide basis. As I understand it, regulators insulate Ministers against criticism about various issues. In this instance, it seems the regulator was warned four weeks ago about what was likely to happen with Smart Telecom. In the past two years ComReg has had ongoing arguments with Eircom on opening up the telecommunications market. The regulator has failed. The events with Smart Telecom will lead to its dismantling and its customers will return to using Eircom. Rather than liberalising the marketplace, it has had the opposite effect. It shows the weakness of the telecommunications structure that there has been no success in unbundling the local loop and opening up the market. People have made massive moneys out of the privatisation of Eircom. Have consumers got better value? It is questionable that they have.