Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

The Government is committed to promoting partnership on the island through the North/South Ministerial Council and the other North/South institutions to deepen economic, social and cultural relations between both parts of the island. In the communications sector, we have jointly promoted Project Kelvin, which I will describe in more detail presently.

EU rules regulating the telecommunications sector have evolved over the past decade and more. Significant regulatory tasks are now transferred to independent market regulators, ComReg in Ireland and Ofcom in the North. The market regulators continue to co-operate to ensure the smooth operation of telecommunications services for all. The EU telecommunications rules permit co-operation across member states but limit the authority of member states and market regulators to regulate retail tariffs in markets which are competitive. Currently, the majority of retail communications products and services available on the island are subject to competition.

I turn now to the important matter of affordable cross-Border telecommunications packages and services which are so important to communities, North and South.

Project Kelvin is a joint project between my Department and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, which is particularly beneficial to the Border regions, providing high capacity fibre North and South serving Letterkenny, Monaghan, Castleblaney, Dundalk and Drogheda and routing onwards to Dublin to provide greater resilience.

For the areas directly involved, the benefits are manifold. With international connectivity, towns such as Letterkenny, Monaghan, Drogheda and the others already mentioned, as well as the surrounding areas, are now very attractive bases for businesses. High-tech multinational firms that trade digitally will find the north west of the country particularly attractive as a location to serve international markets. Companies can set up in this region confident that they can operate successfully in the global market.

There are other arrangements in place which are beneficial to residential customers and business users. The "048" service allows customers in Ireland to dial numbers in Northern Ireland at national rates and in some cases local rates. It is also the case that many Irish fixed line operators offer packages with inclusive minutes to UK land lines, including Northern Ireland.

The mobile telephony market is less harmonised. In 2006, all four mobile service providers introduced special roaming tariffs. EU regulations have since placed a ceiling on roaming prices. The prices set in the EU roaming regulation are not fixed. Some mobile service providers continue to offer discounts for calls to Northern Ireland and the wider UK market. It is important to realise that customers can opt for individual roaming packages offered by their operator. It is also important that consumers shop around by comparing products and services of alternative service providers which may be more suited to their usage pattern.

ComReg has been proactive in this area. The market regulator introduced rules to facilitate switching between service providers while retaining the same contact number. Since its introduction in 2003, approximately 1.9 million accounts have switched of which approximately 360,000 occurred in the 12 month period to the end of March 2010. Continued consumer choice using the switching option will maintain pressure on mobile service providers to offer best value and tailored products to identified customer profiles. ComReg also provides a comparison service on its website that allows residential and commercial users to compare phone and broadband costs based on their usage patterns.

We will continue to explore joint North-South initiatives to improve the communications market in Ireland. Such initiatives are likely to concentrate on the upstream infrastructure market benefiting wholesale service providers directly and retail customers indirectly.

EU rules restrict the ability of my Department and the market regulator, ComReg, to regulate prices and packages. Similar rules apply to our colleagues in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland. Continued vigilance by customers in comparing the different packages offered by competing service providers periodically will maintain downward pressure on retail prices and services. Customers can access the ComReg comparison service at its website to identify the choices most beneficial to their individual needs, and I urge citizens in the Border towns to avail of this service.