Alan Kelly (Labour)

This is the highway for Ireland. It is the future for investment and the indigenous SMEs and IT companies. A group of entrepreneurs is going to Silicon Valley looking for investment in this country. They have been nicknamed the "silicon Paddies". We have the education levels to attract investment in IT and industries based on it, but we do not have the infrastructure or the investment incentives through tax breaks or otherwise. The Government has a blind spot on technology. I listened to Senator Walsh's speech and it was not even a good script, whoever wrote it. I do not know what he was saying. It was waffle. With manufacturing declining this is the future, and we need to prioritise it accordingly. When people consider investing in Ireland the first question they ask is about suitable employees. The second question is on infrastructure and broadband is the priority. The Government claims that 698,000 people is a success. It is successful only by the Government's awful standards. We have the third worst upload and download rate in Europe. We are ranked 17th for penetration. People are investing in broadband for schools and that is excellent. My nephew has a new laptop for which his mother paid €1,800. However 60% of the children who leave school have no hope of using such a laptop because there is no broadband. That is an indictment.

This Government should subsidise broadband for the country in a meaningful way.