Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister. I congratulate Senator Ross and his colleagues on the Bill and welcome the Bill as an important part of our ongoing dialogue. I have the impression from the Minister that the Bill will not be accepted. It is a pity he does not accept it and amend it in ways he sees fit.

It is important to kick-start the process of having targets set by Government. Sections 3 and 4 of the Bill establish targets. The Minister may reasonably question some bases for those targets, but the concept and principle of having ambitious targets is good and should be accepted. It is regrettable that the backdrop to this discussion is that there was a reduction in the budget of 25% in the IT and telecommunications infrastructure funding. That is at variance with the Government's stated plan on the 3rd July, which said, "To make this a reality, investment of €435 million has been earmarked under the NDP for 2007 to 2013". That may happen but there is no indication in the budget that it will.

Senator Ross made the point that there are areas of expenditure, in education and broadband, that are above the process of cuts because they are vital to any future economic regeneration when better prevailing economic winds are blowing. If we are to regenerate our economy, education and broadband are central pillars and it is regrettable that these cutbacks were announced in the budget.

With regard to the concept of the network board, I am conscious of the issue of quangos and not setting up new, unnecessary structures. I recognise and welcome Senator Ross's point that the Bill provides for a membership of six and not more than 10. If we are to have a network board, it must be lean and — to use popular jargon — wash its own face and not be another expensive monolith. We need to be careful about that. In asking the Government to reconsider and accept the Bill, there is a need to consider any amendments that would make that as lean as possible. We do not want to increase expenditure on a plethora of quangos. If it is to be a productive and useful contribution to the rolling out of broadband, then fair enough.

It is hardly necessary to state the advantage of having top-class broadband infrastructure. It is imperative for foreign investment, it is an important educational tool and is important for business. It is vital if people are to work at home and locate in isolated areas. It is wonderful to see people setting up their own businesses in an isolated area or a place that is not traditionally highly populated. It is vital to have the broadband network to achieve that.

We have not been sufficiently proactive in bringing on the new generation of broadband, which is the Internet with much larger capacity to achieve more. That is necessary for video conferencing and other aspects of modern industry and communication. We should be more proactive in this area. It is important to be ambitious about our broadband roll-out for regional and economic development, and inward investment. We cannot work on the negative, pessimistic or Jeremiah assumption that we will never have good days again. We must prepare for a time when the economy will recover and be ready with the infrastructure and educational investment, and that is why what is happening in education will come into focus next week. It is verging on tragedy and farce. Broadband is a vital element of our economic regeneration in the future.

The question of availability is very important. In Leitrim, half the people have no availability where they live. It is not a question of accepting or paying for the broadband; they do not have it. In Roscommon, surveys by local authorities show two-thirds of people have no availability. I beg the indulgence of the Cathaoirleach to welcome the members the County Council of Cavan today. They comprise an important delegation of citizens from Lavy in Cavan. They are very aware and anxious that representations be made to the Minister that in Cavan, while there is good coverage with wireless broadband——