Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I am certain that, for Ireland, the key development in the broadband area will be access to high-speed broadband in our schools. This will enable us to activate our children's imaginations and their ability to learn from the Internet. It will give children the tools to go to any part of the world to find help with their lessons and enable teachers to deliver an education system which is fit for the 21st century. We will be engaged in the process of providing such broadband access to our schools, to allow teachers and pupils to avail of the Internet and open up their schools and classrooms to the world. That is specific project delivery in which we are engaged.

Senator Ross was critical of the spectrum policy analysis paper, but in our spectrum management we have some of the best practice in the world. We have, through our regulator and some of our academic institutions who are involved in the policy analysis in this area, delivered some innovative and new approaches to the allocation of spectrum, to encourage foreign direct investment. It is working. Let us not talk ourselves into a different reality. We have 200 of the leading ICT companies in the world here. We have 600 of our own software companies here. We saw Facebook arriving two weeks ago, on the back of Google, Ebay and other companies. It is still happening and we are still succeeding.

I recently visited the Digital Hub. It does not have enough accommodation and the numbers in terms of employment growth is ahead of projections. The spend on the National Digital Research Centre to encourage further connection between basic research and commercial activity is working. One area, more than anywhere else, where we have a competitive advantage over any other country is our spectrum. The fact that we do not have a large military reduces the military application given over to spectrum. That is a competitive advantage. The fact that we are an island means that we do not have conflicting issues with neighbouring spectrum management systems and is also an advantage. The fact that we have a flexible Government, which can work with the regulator and seek to be as flexible and innovative as possible in spectrum allocation, is a crucial economic advantage for the coming decade, because the allocation of spectrum will be one of the key infrastructural assets companies will be looking at.

We are engaged in trying to finalise the selection of a candidate to deliver the national broadband scheme, where we will provide the type of coverage Senator O'Toole is looking for, and which is ubiquitous cover across the country. It is a specific and significant intervention by the State to support, through a competitive dialogue process, a particular provider to cover areas that were not previously covered. These arise from the policy paper on which we are working. That is what my Department is trying to deliver and is delivering. That will give Ireland the possibility of having some of the best infrastructure, which is what we should be aiming for in a world where digitally traded service will be the economic future for a country like Ireland.