Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I welcome this debate, which presents us with a great opportunity to reflect on the issue of broadband, the progress that has been made and the work that must be done in the context of rolling out broadband services to every community in the country. When widely available, broadband provides an affordable, always-on service for businesses, schools and individual citizens. It is important that such a service is made available.

As the Minister indicated, the provision of broadband is mainly a matter for private sector operators such as Eircom and others, which operate in a liberalised market that is regulated by ComReg. It is important that private providers fulfil their obligations in areas for which they have responsibility. I have never subscribed to the notion that just because only a few people live in a particular area or because it is not economically viable to do so, private providers should not provide broadband services. That notion is wrong. I am of the view that Eircom fell short in respect of its public obligation in this regard. Nevertheless, the Government has intervened where the market failed to provide the service. There have been a number of initiatives by the Government such as those mentioned by the Minister, including the group broadband scheme which was like the old group water scheme. The latter was technology neutral and it subsidised the implementation of 127 projects nationally, all in rural areas. Small to medium-sized service providers supported competition using a range of different technologies and that really assisted small rural areas. Those infrastructural interventions helped increase competition in the regions by facilitating the introduction of a new service to many small, mainly rural areas.

The other service being subsidised by the Government was the metropolitan area networks, MANs. The assistance provided by the Government was facilitated by the Department's regional broadband programme. The MANs are ultimately State-owned. I know there are a number of MANs in my county that have been funded by the Government. They provide open access telecommunications networks to towns and cities that did not previously have a backbone service available to them or would not have it to this day had the assistance not been available from the Department.

The Government has intervened to provide broadband to many rural and regional areas that would not have had it owing to the lack of commitment from the private sector. In addition to the group broadband and MANs schemes the Department has introduced a new scheme. Broad consultation has taken place over a long period and that scheme will be rolled out nationwide. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, referred to the national broadband scheme, NBS, that was sent to tender. A contract was signed between the Department and a private operator which tendered for the scheme. The scheme will provide affordable, scaleable broadband services to rural Ireland. Many such areas do not have a broadband service currently and the scheme will provide an extension of broadband facilities to rural areas that would not have the service readily available at present. It will bridge the digital gap and give Ireland a better ability to engage in the knowledge society and knowledge economy.

I very much welcome the work that has been done by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, in developing the national broadband scheme and bringing it to its current position. A contract has been signed and there is a definite period of 21 months from December last from which broadband will be rolled out to at least half the areas by the end of this year and all areas by September 2010. That will mean significant leaps forward for many areas.

The national broadband scheme will provide broadband to many areas in my county. I have a map showing some of the areas that will be facilitated by the national broadband scheme. Other parts of the country will be assisted also.