Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

We have had an interesting debate. The comments of Senator Donohoe and others regarding Twitter highlight the need to create awareness in this area if we are to reap the benefits.

I remind Members that €80 million was spent in 2008 as part of an overall investment package of €220 million for broadband services. Significant improvements have been made and, while everyone would acknowledge that more must be done, we should also recognise that we have a dispersed and largely rural based population. It is essential, therefore, that we develop wireless broadband in addition to fixed line services. I am aware, however, there are shortcomings to wireless broadband.

These issues are perhaps not as new as we think. As a small child in the 1950s I recall spending time with my grandparents and an uncle by marriage John Doran, who had his own windmill in the days before rural electrification reached his part of south County Carlow. The windmill produced electricity for his house and charged his neighbours' wireless batteries. He always kept a large inventory of batteries under his stairs. He was a talented man who was ahead of his time and his genius was evident to the community in which he lived. That micro approach to energy generation and renewable energy is something we should encourage and not lose sight of in our attempts to address the question of the macro initiatives needed in this area.

The Opposition may have lost sight of the thrust of the motion. It was not about the narrow issue of broadband or any other such narrow point but to integrate the information and communications technology with our energy initiatives, especially renewable energy, and our need to cut our CO2 emissions. That challenge presents us with an opportunity for a great deal of job creation in the future.

In his comprehensive address to the House the Minister of State dealt with the smart economy area and what has been done in the areas of smart electricity, smarter homes, smarter travel and the sensors which will assist people to commute at the optimum times in terms of their jobs and therefore have a very beneficial effect on our CO2 emissions. Video-conferencing will be a huge component in terms of where we are heading in this area. All of that will bring about a substantial benefit in reducing our CO2 emissions but will also ensure we are well placed in the smart economy area for the future development of our country in terms of job creation and our economy.

I listened to some of the comments made on the other side of the House. The Government has invested €8.2 billion in research and development. That is done to attract private sector investment in research and development. The entire area is very high-risk capital and therefore inducements are needed for the private sector to participate. The Government has done that rather wisely. I have no doubt that will bring its rewards in time but as I said earlier, the real challenge for Government and for all of us will be to ensure the successes we achieve in research and development are implemented here at home which will ensure the downstream jobs and the development of the entire area will accrue to this economy and not elsewhere. That is a challenge for us and a challenge to our competitiveness.

We face another challenge in this area. I noted in the weeks I was campaigning that there were many messages, not only for us as a Government and a party but also for politics in general. One of them was the disenchantment with the partisanship which exists, particularly in the Lower House but also as it manifested itself tonight in the Upper House in the way we approach these issues. The challenge we face is to work constructively to assist in building the foundations and the platform for the next economic resurgence, and an especially important component of that vision is that we make Ireland a world leader in ICT and in the renewable energy field. I would like us all to share the vision set out by Government and work together in Ireland's interest constructively and without the kind of partisan politics which may have a place in certain debates but have no place in us trying to position ourselves to ensure future generations of young people will have an economy in which they can fully participate, get jobs and build careers and achieve successes for future generations.