Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I welcome the Minister to the House and I do not doubt his commitment on this issue. I worry about the slowness of the roll-out of broadband and I have discussed it with him many times over the years, long before he became a Minister. To confirm Senator Brady's points, I live 17 miles from here, 2 km off the N2, but I cannot get broadband at home, except wireless. I am paying three times, it does not support Voice-over Internet Protocol and it is quite slow compared to what I should have. This is a strategic issue.

When Senator Brady and I were active in our different unions, we both opposed what was done with Eircom. My line was somewhat to different from his. I was not that concerned about the privatisation of the service but I was concerned about the privatisation of the infrastructure. I spoke in this House at the time and used the example of Belmullet. I said I could never see us bringing what was then called, in the quaint language of the day, before broadband, the "information superhighway" to Belmullet. The same is true today. I thought, and still think, we should own the infrastructure and allow people to lease it out for service.

The reason has been explained in Senator Brady's points and in the text of the motion proposed by Senator Hannigan. The minute Eircom upgrades its telephone lines, people change their service to another provider. There seems to be some imbalance there. The business plans do not seem to support the upgrading of the service and the unbundling to come in on top of that. The business plan does not work and we must examine that. We need to move matters forward very rapidly. In terms of strategy, whether the railways, airports or broadband infrastructure, there are certain infrastructural issues we cannot allow out of the hands of the State for strategic reasons, and that includes the ones we are talking about here today.

Broadband releases an intellectual talent. Along the west coast of Ireland in particular it allows people to participate in a global society. It delivers equality. While people might be tied to their homes for cosmetic reasons, it allows them to become part of the global workforce. It copperfastens the principles in favour of regionalisation. It allows regions to be as important and accessible as cities. It allows cottage and home industries. People in the west can provide a Chinese translation service and have it delivered in a different time zone first thing tomorrow morning. Research, education of students and social cohesion, through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and whatever can be supported only by broadband.

I could go on for hours about this. I know the Minister's views. I advise him not to get entrenched in the difficulties but to kick ass and ensure this is delivered on time. I do not understand why the Minister has amended the motion. I cannot see that the amended motion differs in any way substantially from what Senator Hannigan proposed. That is another thing that bothers me about how Government works. If the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, had read that before becoming Minister, he would ask why we are doing this.