Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I noted the reference to the Black Valley. It was former Deputy Peter Barry who was the Minister responsible for connecting the Black Valley with the system. It was one of the last locations to be connected, as Senator Mulcahy pointed out.

I welcome the Minister here and I also welcome the Bill. The more competition in telecommunications the better. The networks do exist and I have seen the range of equipment used at ESB stations throughout the country. There is also some scope for CIE to contribute. The railways had a communications network between the stations and so on. It is available and can form part of the technological developments. Senators on this side of the House support the Bill as it will bring Ireland forward in this age of technology, as the Minister has said.

I wish to mention another aspect. The Minister and the Commission for Electricity Regulation must keep pressure on the ESB, previously a monopolistic company, in order to keep electricity prices down as much as possible.

International comparisons highlight that prices are high in Ireland. Professor Colm McCarthy estimated recently that prices are 41% higher than the EU average. The Minister has been known to attend the Kenmare economics conference from time to time and complaints have been made there that the regulator is easy on the ESB given it is a high cost operation with executives being paid multiples of what the Taoiseach earns. That pressure on behalf of the consumer and overall national competitiveness to keep energy costs down has to be maintained and I will support the Minister in all his efforts to do so. We cannot afford to let that slide in any way.

This is a worthwhile measure to increase competitiveness in a growing sector of the economy, electronic communications. The more people in it, the merrier. I will support the legislation.