Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

There was an issue raised on Second Stage regarding the blocking of mobile telephone signals. If I am not mistaken it was Senator Moloney who asked what would happen in a situation where there was a need to the block mobile telephone signal in an area and some unfortunate event occurred, like at an international summit, for example, where members of the public were injured. In that context, is there a facility whereby there is an emergency band operated by ambulance services, members of An Garda Síochána and so forth? Is there a specific band they could use that would not be impacted by the general blocking of mobile telephone signals?

I agree with my colleague that it is an issue that people can access handsets and SIM cards with little difficulty in this country. My daughter bought one the other day and she was not asked for any identification whatsoever.