Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and wish him well. As he said, he has had a break of 19 years from the House. I have no doubt he will be excellent in his portfolio.

I wish to speak about broadband, particularly in the context of Limerick, where I live, and the area I represent, the Limerick City constituency, and more particularly in the context of the rural part of east Limerick. The national broadband roll-out is very much to be welcomed, but I want to make a number of points. There has been much discussion comparing it with Eircom when Eircom was privatised. Eircom was a national network entirely owned by Eircom. Much of the current network is in private ownership as it is, so it is not as if there are not already some areas of the country covered by fibre broadband and by private providers who have built up the network. That is a distinction that needs to be made. Notwithstanding that, the devil is in the detail, as the Minister well knows, so I want to pose a number of questions about what was announced yesterday.The network will effectively be in State ownership for the first 25 years. What control mechanisms will be put in place to ensure there can be no abuse of service users in the price they will pay during that period and that, beyond the period of 25 years, agreements will be in place to ensure people will have certainty and trust in the system?

Only 35% of Irish premises have access to broadband speeds greater than 10 MBps. Some 69% of Irish homes have access to broadband speeds of only 4 MBps. The Minister is providing for a figure of 30 MBps. In a couple of years time we may find that this is insufficient. What provisions will be built into the contracts awarded to ensure they are future-proofed and that in two or three years time, if there is a need for speeds of 100 MBps, they will be provided for? The last thing we want is for the State to invest in something that will be obsolete in a short period.

I have looked to see whether the Minister has announced who the selected potential bidders are. Are they existing providers in Ireland? At what level is their network? As we want to avoid a monopoly, how many contractors will be appointed? These are extremely important issues to ensure people will have security and trust in the system. In east Limerick broadband speeds vary. While the service is quite good in much of the city and surrounding areas, it is very patchy in rural east Limerick. We are looking to develop the area with the rejuvenation of towns and villages, including Murroe, Abington, Cappamore, Caherconlish and Castleconnell. What is the roll-out target to be achieved in these areas? What can the Minister indicate to the people of rural east Limerick about the timeframe for the roll-out, the broadband speeds to which they will have access, how the issue will be prioritised and the timeframe in contractors being appointed? We want to encourage SMEs to set up in the towns and villages of rural east Limerick and cannot expect them to do so without proper broadband. They may see broadband provision as a promise which will happen in a few years time, with no certainty as to when it will be installed, speeds, capacity, price and future-proofing, which would reassure those who set up a business that broadband speeds and capacity could be increased over time, as required.

I am a frequent user of Irish Rail services and broadband coverage on the main line between Limerick and Dublin is, to say the least, dire and patchy. It is also extremely poor. If the train is relatively empty, the service will be reasonably okay, whereas if the train is full, it is dire. If we want to promote the use of public transport, it is not good enough in a modern society for the phone line to die during an important call and one can nearly guess where it will die. It is not good enough for broadband to die and one to lose a file or whatever else. I welcome the establishment of the mobile task force to examine the issue and wish the Minister well. For me, it is about delivery on the ground in east Limerick in order that we can tell people that if they want to establish a business in any part of east Limerick, broadband capacity is strong enough. It must happen with immediate effect. I wish to know about timescales, price, capacity and security.