Seanad debates

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

6:00 pm

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Independent)

I thank the Minister for putting in a pretty unorthodox performance. I have never known two Ministers to address the House on any issue of Private Members' Business but he is welcome to do so.

I am not happy with the response. The overwhelming flavour of the response was one of complacency. What I find so extraordinary, not about the terms of the amendment because Governments do those sorts of things and consider they have to, is that the defence that has been put in has been one that we are improving. Of course, we are improving. One cannot do anything but improve if one has such a diabolical performance to begin with. This time last year when we tabled a similar motion the figures were staggeringly bad. I am sorry I did not research the Minister's reply of this time last year. I read some of the debate but I did not read the Minister's reply. Today the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, said:

To put this in context, at the start of 2005 only 3% of the population were broadband subscribers and the figure stood at 7% at the start of 2006. To achieve 18% by the end of 2007 is significant progress by any measure.

Of course it is progress. It is a multiple of six but it is still a diabolical performance and it should be an awful lot better but it is not. I will not quote the statistics the Minister's deputy quoted earlier but on every statistic we are lagging far behind virtually every modern economy in the world and we are congratulating ourselves on doing that because we are not lagging as far behind as we were previously. This is playing the statistics in a way that is unacceptable.

The message has gone out and we are getting it back, not just from Mr. McElligott, head of eBay, who has been quoted widely because he was quoted in the newspapers, but on a quieter basis from multinationals around the world, especially US firms, that Ireland is not e-savvy, so to speak. That is the most dangerous message that could possibly go out. It is going out because it is justified, not because it is unjustified. To say we have improved a little just clouds the issue of where we are in the stark statistics. We were so bad previously and we are still very bad. That is the reality. We have not seen the sense of urgency I wanted to see in this debate. Instead we have celebrated mediocrity.

The Minister is aware of this and, to some extent, it is difficult for him because he is defending a regime which existed before him. One cannot expect him in six months to have righted the wrongs of what went before. I was disappointed that when he replied he gave us no facts, figures or targets. The future, as he said, is what is important. I was struck by what Senator Callanan said but he is caught in a hole. He is on our side but he must vote the other way. It is pretty obvious and it often happens and he is very skilful at doing it. That is fine and let him vote the other way.

What the Minister's reply lacked were facts, figures, targets and commitments. This debate has been noteworthy, not just tonight but always, in that Government's replies have been aspirational. The tenor is that we hope we will be able to do this, we should do the other and this is what we ought to do. What I was hoping to hear from the Minister was a commitment that we will be in an all-Ireland situation, as mentioned by Senator Burke, by this time next year or at the end of 2009, that the funds and the political will will be in place to do that and that he will not come back to the House with the same story in two years' time when I table this motion again.

I am not quiet so enamoured of the commitments made about next generation broadband. The Minister is right and he recognises the importance of it. We have lost the last generation. We have just lost that battle. We are so far behind we are just playing catch-up and we will probably never catch up properly. Next generation is important but it is dangerous to say we are preparing a draft policy paper on that issue — it is too late to do that — and that we are setting up a national advisory forum of experts. We have heard all this before. I can do without the experts, the forums and the advisers. Let us have decisions. Let us simply get down to it and do it now. That is what I had hoped to see in this debate and that is why I will call for a vote. That is why I find the attitude of Government and its members is not convincing. It is apologetic. I do not think they are convinced of it themselves. At the end of the day we need commitments and we need to vote against the Government simply and solely to give it a reality check.

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