Seanad debates

Thursday, 6 October 2016

10:30 am

Photo of Ray ButlerRay Butler (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to talk about a report prepared by IEDR, the dot ie digital health index. It is an interesting report that raises a large number of relevant points. Poor communication is central and fundamental to SMEs. When SMEs were asked what the main barriers were to their getting online, 21% said poor connection was one. In recent months business owners have brought to my attention the fact that the greatest obstacle to doing business is not having a proper mobile phone signal. During the Seanad election we would all have seen that, in certain areas of the country, there were no mobile signals whatsoever. In my own constituency, which is really a suburb of Dublin with towns such as Kildalkey, Kilmessan, Longwood, Clonard, Ballivor, Enfield and Oldcastle, there are no mobile phone signals whatsoever. The bigger cities may not be affected but business is not confined to the bigger cities. I call on the Minister to call to task the mobile phone operators who, month after month, take the hard-earned money of the people and businesses of Ireland for what can only be described as a disgraceful service.

I ask for clarity on what mobile phone operators mean by "unlimited"? We all sign up to contracts and pay €50 or €75 per month and, with a population of 4.5 million, that is a lot of payments of €50 or €75 per month but the bill can go up after six, nine or 12 months. We want legislation on what "unlimited" means in terms of mobile and broadband services because it is a rip-off as compared to other countries. We should bring in legislation to provide that if mobile phone service providers do not provide country-wide services their licences should not be granted or renewed.

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