Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

According to yesterday's ComReg report on the communications market, the average Irish person pays €44 per month. People might say that we talk more than other Europeans but the French talk more than we do and they pay €100 less every year. It is not a case of c'est la vie because there are four providers in the market and there has been increased usage so we should expect to have lower costs. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Communications Energy and Natural Resources and ask him to produce an action plan to bring down the costs?

The latest decision regarding water charges for schools comes on the back of U-turns regarding provisional driving licences and Ministers' pay. I heard the Minister for Education and Science on the radio this morning and was less than impressed. On her watch there was a school accommodation crisis in September, a problem regarding the summer works scheme last month and now the water charges are at issue. The Minister is no longer the star pupil and, in teaching jargon, her past performance has been less than perfect, her present performance is continuously tense and her future performance is ever more conditional.