Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo the remarks of the father of the House about Good Friday; not on religious grounds but to keep it as it is on public health grounds and for workers.

I want to raise EU roaming charges and the giant loophole that came to light today which makes a joke of the EU's roaming law. Any people who booked their summer holidays would have been delighted to think they were not going to pay extortionate roaming charges to fill the coffers of mobile providers. It is set to be law by 15 June 2017 and would see the abolition of roaming costs. People thought at least the EU was listening and was doing something for ordinary people and it makes the EU a bit more relevant to people in different countries. Unfortunately, thus far at least three or four mobile providers have indicated it will not apply to them. Instead of allowing people to roam like home, these providers will jig around with the terms and conditions and make it obsolete. They are putting it up to ComReg and giving it the proverbial two fingers by stating that customers will not get the same amount of data when abroad. The providers' intention and action is to put in place a two-tier data system for when the EU law passes. It is shocking that ComReg left data out of this regulation. While the regulator put in talk, text and calls, data services are the most important thing we use when abroad and in our day-to-day life. The EU has been caught unintentionally or deliberately in obfuscating this issue and ComReg seems to be the butt of an absolutely farcical joke. I call on the Leader to request the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, to update Members on this issue to ascertain whether there is anything they can do to take over from the greedy providers of mobile services.