Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I dtosach báire, ba bhreá liom a rá go dtréaslaím le Pairtí an Lucht Oibre as ucht an rún seo a chur faoi bhráid an tSeanaid. Tacaím go mór leis. Nuair a théann mé abhaile faoin tuath, níl mé in ann an idirlíon a fháil leis an leathanbhanda. Caithfidh mé a rá go mbíonn frustrachas in ann dom i gcónaí. Is minic go ndéantar neamhaird ar riachtanais muintir na tuaithe. Ní bhíonn an aird chéanna á thabhairt ar an cheart atá acu tairbhe a bhaint as na caighdeáin céanna maireachtála agus teicneolaíochta.

I am happy to support the Labour Party motion. It is the second time today that I find myself in public agreement with Labour Party policy. It was Éamon de Valera who once said that if he got a positive editorial in the Irish Independent he would have to examine his conscience. Nonetheless, I find myself in agreement with the Labour Party today on several issues and I do not think it is anything to do with feeling a little giddy coming up to the end of the political term. Similarly to the issue of child benefit, which we discussed earlier, there is an important principle at stake in the broadband debate, namely, that of universality. It is not the mark of a society which takes democratic principles seriously to ignore either the welfare of children, in terms of child benefit, for example, or the geographically and economically marginalised, in terms of the question of rural broadband services.

I wish to focus first on the economic aspect of this issue. The Communications Workers Union, CWU, recently made a submission to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources as part of its consultation process on next-generation networks, NGNs. This submission discussed the importance of bridging the digital divide and the options for delivering high quality broadband to rural Ireland, and it did so in the context of the important role to be played by NGNs in helping to secure the economic and social future of this country. NGNs are the new generation of telecommunications networks that can provide multiple services over a single infrastructure. The submission pointed out that the development of a truly national NGN will have clear implications for efficiency and job creation and hence should be treated as a strategically important development, which will act as a guarantor of the island's future success as a small open economy on the edge of Europe, an economy whose success depends on maintaining a competitive presence in a highly globalised marketplace.

The CWU has listed the key elements required in order to facilitate the growth and development of an NGN in Ireland. These include a clear strategic vision from Government and an explanation of how it will realise its vision of a truly national NGN that leaves no one behind; a realisation and acceptance by the Government that leaving the provision of NGNs solely to the private sector will not be enough to deliver on this vision, given the specific challenges of our dispersed rural population; the corresponding realisation of the need for State intervention, the nature and extent of which, when clarified, will help to provide important clarity to the marketplace and information on where investment needs to be directed; and a revised regulatory approach to NGNs that recognises that this phase of the evolution of the market is based on a new business model and that the regulatory approach required must facilitate sustainable competition and investment.

The digital divide must be acknowledged to be the critical obstacle to the fair and balanced development of the economy and society in significant parts of our island. It is a serious impediment to job creation, to the development of small and medium enterprises and to the development of a balanced society in which people have equal access to services. I make this point based on studies which have found a significant correlation between a nation's broadband quality and its advancement as a knowledge economy. Any failure of Government policy to deal with the challenge of the digital divide would send a critical message to those citizens affected that they cannot participate in the knowledge economy. It would represent a betrayal of the principle that nobody should be left behind.

Unfortunately, the aspirations of the CWU are not met by the current provisions of the national broadband scheme. I commend the work of Irish Rural Link, which pointed out that up to 12,000 houses and business premises are not covered by the scheme. This figure excludes those whose only broadband options are prohibitively expensive or of poor quality. As a person from rural Ireland, I can say that the ability of such areas to contribute to the Government's smart economy vision is severely constrained by the lack of broadband, high latency and contention ratios and relatively slow speeds. The NBS will not allow rural small and medium enterprises to fully realise their potential; hence the need to see beyond the strict letter of the NBS and adhere to the spirit behind its implementation. The Labour Party motion points this out forcibly, as does the CWU's call for a national NGN.

Other countries, which are also our competitors, are investing in high speed, high quality broadband. However, despite the Government's smart economy document, which was published in December, no coherent vision for a national broadband service has been tabled.

I will touch briefly upon another oft-neglected aspect of this debate, that is, the trend in Irish culture towards increasing technocracy and utilitarianism. To politically justify something, one is expected to answer the categorical question of how much money can be made from it or how much it will cost. The value of genuine communitarianism and social solidarity is being reduced to the balance sheet, as is the categorical imperative of human dignity. This is why, like other Members, I have much to contribute to debates about issues such as embryo research and care of the elderly and the disabled.

As the wording of the Labour Party motion stresses, it is vital that we recognise the importance of rural Ireland to the social fabric of our nation and the level of isolation felt by many residents in rural Ireland, not just older people. I do not wish to give the impression that we are not in the midst of an economic crisis and that we can be as fiscally liberal as we like. Cuts must be made and spending must be reduced, but society is not at the service of the economy. It must be the other way around; the economy must be at the service of our society, and an integral part of our society is our rural population.

Is ceist luacha í a bhaineann le dínit an duine. Is cuma má tá duine faoin tuath nó duine i lár na cathrach i gceist. Is cuma má tá duine nach bhfuil ar an saol go fóill nó seanduine i gceist. Tá sé riachtanach go mbeadh sé mar aidhm againn go mbeadh an meas céanna againn ar gach saoránach sa tír seo. Ba chóir dúinn bheith chomh dáiríre faoi na seirbhísí atá ar fáil do dhaoine faoin tuath is atáimid faoi na seirbhísí atá ar fáil do dhaoine sna cathracha.