Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

They were more civil than the crowd last week and I got out alive. I agree it is vital that we do our part and I can assure the Leader that he will not find us wanting on this side of the House.

I wish to raise the issue of broadband. I read a report some days ago stating that Eircom has offered to upgrade the speeds of broadband in such gateway towns as Dundalk and Letterkenny. There is no proposal to do anything in the commuter belt. Unemployment rates in the commuter belt are rising all the time especially in such places as Naas, Drogheda and Ashbourne. We need to start investing in faster broadband speeds in such places. Broadband speeds in Japan are 100 times faster than speeds in Ireland. We need to do something about this. We cannot only work on the gateway cities. We need to look at the rest of the commuter belt.