Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I second the Fine Gael amendment to the motion. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. On many occasions since I became a Member of the House, Senators have called for debates on broadband infrastructure and information and communications technology. Next generation broadband will be essential in the economic recovery of Ireland. The amount of information being created, stored and transmitted digitally continues to expand at an exponential rate and future businesses will need high speed broadband services to continue to operate efficiently. Industries such as services and research are becoming more economically important to Ireland in the knowledge economy rather than the declining traditional industries. As a result, we need a new type of national infrastructure to meet the demands of these businesses. We need more than roads and bridges, we need fibre optic ducts, communications interchanges and the associated cabling and technologies.

It is appropriate to reflect on where Ireland is with regard to this technology and to gain a clear understanding of what broadband is, the penetration levels in this country and the quality of broadband where it is available. Northern Ireland has almost 100% broadband penetration. We compare very badly to that. Large areas of Ireland do not have broadband availability. That is an indictment of Government policy over many years and of failure to invest in this important technology.

There are many reasons for this failure. When Eircom was sold it was asset stripped and investment has not been made in the required areas. One need only drive through the countryside to see the state of standard telephone lines. I commend the ESB, whose networks and infrastructure are very modern. On the other hand, our telecommunications infrastructure, which was upgraded many times over a period of years, has suffered from lack of investment since the privatisation of Eircom. One sees telephone poles leaning on ditches and lines lying on the ground. That would not have happened 15 or 20 years ago, when Eircom was in State ownership. I see Senator Martin Brady nodding. I know he worked for Eircom, where there was a proud working tradition. It must disgust people like Senator Brady and many others who worked for Eircom to see the present state of the networks. Eircom needs to review its investment. Our country depends on proper communications technology. Rolling investment in infrastructure over many years is very important if we are to maintain an adequate standard for residents, businesses and communities.

Large areas of rural Ireland are not yet broadband enabled. This is partly because exchanges in the Eircom infrastructure have not been upgraded and telephone lines are not capable of connecting rural areas to broadband. As a result, we see the development of small businesses providing wireless broadband to rural areas. Without them many rural people would be isolated completely. I compliment a company which began as a small incubator business in Waterford Institute of Technology. A small number of graduate students saw an opportunity because the State was not providing broadband to rural areas. They put together the technology and developed a product called Alphawave Wireless Broadband. The company delivers broadband to hundreds, if not thousands, of houses and businesses in the south east of Ireland. People like that are to be complimented. They will probably be bought out by a larger company, which will pick the areas where there are opportunities and develop them further. These people, acting on their own initiative and investing in their education and in the available technology, are providing broadband, which the State should be doing.

Ireland has the fifth slowest Internet speed in the OECD. We are only better than Mexico, Turkey, Hungary and Poland. Yet, we consider ourselves a leading edge modern society with well developed technology. Our position among OECD countries is an indication of how undeveloped we are. Not only is availability of and access to broadband important, the quality of broadband is also important. The average download speed of broadband advertised in Ireland is 6,000 kilobits per second. In Japan, the world leader in the provision of broadband services, it is more than 92,846 kilobits per second. A student here, whether studying for the leaving certificate or a degree, takes ten times longer to download information from the Internet than a student in Japan. Businesses in Ireland are similarly handicapped. Slow, low quality broadband access places us at a serious disadvantage.

Government has invested in the metropolitan area networks, MANS. This investment was welcomed in many areas but accessibility and interconnection of those networks needs to be looked at. Further examination is required. Infrastructure, ducting and cabling has been installed in those metropolitan areas but access to the wider web is limited and costly compared to other countries. Although the infrastructure is available it is not interconnected with the worldwide web. Financially, there are no incentives for small businesses to connect to that infrastructure due to the high costs involved. Some countries, in an effort to incentivise business, offer free access or incentivised access to broadband. In this country, however, people are charged, which makes it unviable or unfeasible for them to operate on the networks provided.

There is much room for improvement in communications technology in this country. The Government, to a large degree, has let the country down by lack of investment, as has Eircom. It is only through proper, targeted and productive investment in these areas and the provision of proper broadband infrastructure that business and, in turn, the economy and society, will flourish.