Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for giving me the opportunity to raise the matter of the provision of broadband in Glencullen in Dublin. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources recently had the opportunity to visit the offices of ComReg. It was a very interesting and informative visit. ComReg outlined to the committee the very heartening news that the provision of broadband in Ireland is rapidly increasing and is now falling within the average on the international tables of broadband provision, having got off to a very slow start. That was very heartening to hear, but we still have some way to go.

ComReg indicated it would be very surprised if there were parts of Dublin where it was not possible to avail of some form of broadband, whether cable or wireless. Glencullen is one of those parts. The pity of the matter and the reason I raise it today is that over the past six months, Eircom has spent approximately €100,000 on providing fibre-optic cables from the nearest village, Stepaside, to Glencullen to facilitate broadband provision. However, Eircom installed what is known as a cabinet but unfortunately it is not adjacent to the cabinet that holds the lines for the village of Glencullen, which is beside the local school. It will cost another €10,000 to €20,000 to complete the link but Eircom has indicated that it has no immediate plans to complete the provision of broadband.

Glencullen is the highest village in Ireland and is located on a steep hill. For this reason, it is not possible to obtain wireless broadband there. It is completely dependent on the completion of the final section of wiring. If a company has spent €100,000 on installing the basic fibre-optic cables required and only requires a further small amount of cabling to the cost of up to €20,000, it seems an awful shame that it would not just complete the job. This would ensure the library, school and the surrounding village has the same access to broadband services as the rest of Dublin.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking the debate on behalf of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and I will address the House on the question of broadband in the Glencullen area.

The provision of broadband services is a major priority for the Government. In this context, the primary role of the Government is to formulate regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of high quality telecommunications services by competing private sector service providers. The broadband market in Ireland is fully liberalised and regulated where appropriate by ComReg, the independent Commission for Communications Regulation. Ireland's growth in broadband penetration has continued to improve during 2007. Almost 20 service providers offer products to more than 85% of the population through a combination of DSL, fixed-wireless, cable, fibre-optic, and mobile technologies and as a result the average cost of broadband continues to fall. Fixed wireless broadband is available in the Glencullen area of Dublin, subject to survey.

The latest market report from ComReg reported a total of 886,300 broadband subscribers at the end of 2007. This figure includes mobile broadband and corresponds to a penetration rate of "20.5 subscribers per 100 of population" and represents a 12% increase on the third quarter in 2007 and a 71% increase on the same quarter in 2006. Ireland continues to be one of the fastest growing broadband markets in Europe and has the fastest growing broadband rate penetration in the OECD.

The State has undertaken initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage where the market has clearly failed. Direct funding has been provided under the national development plan for the provision of backbone infrastructure and to upgrade local access infrastructure. In addition, in partnership with local and regional authorities, the Government is continuing to fund the construction of high speed, open access metropolitan area networks, MANs, in towns and cities nationwide. These wholesale networks are enabling private sector operators to offer world class broadband services at competitive costs. The Department also offered funding assistance for smaller towns and rural communities through the group broadband scheme, GBS. The scheme, which was technology-neutral, subsidised the implementation of 127 projects in rural areas. This range of small to medium sized service providers have supported competition using a range of different technologies. In addition, these service providers have made use of the private and state owned regional backhaul links.

These infrastructure interventions have helped expand competition in the regions by facilitating the introduction of new service providers to areas where none existed a couple of years ago. However, the private sector will still be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services in some parts of the country. The failure of the market to bridge the digital divide in specific rural areas will be addressed through the Department's national broadband scheme, NBS. The scheme will provide broadband services to areas that are currently unserved and will ensure all reasonable requests for broadband in unserved areas are met. The first phase of the procurement process for the NBS, the pre-qualification questionnaire phase, is complete and four candidates pre-qualified. The four candidates were BT Communications Ireland Limited Consortium, Eircom Limited, Hutchinson 3G Ireland Limited and IFA-Motorola Consortium.

Following the withdrawal of the IFA-Motorola Consortium as a candidate, the remaining three candidates have commenced competitive dialogue with the Department and they are developing their proposed solutions to meet the requirements for the delivery of broadband to the unserved areas of the country. It is anticipated a preferred bidder will be selected and appointed in June 2008, with roll-out to commence as soon as possible thereafter. The broadband product to be provided under the NBS will be broadly equivalent to those typically available on the Irish market with similar prices. The most appropriate mechanism to achieve this aim will be decided during the competitive dialogue process. The issue of broadband availability is close to resolution and we are turning our attention to the new challenges facing the market, such as improving quality and speeds and further reducing costs of broadband access. It needs to be ensured Ireland's consumers have available the most up to date and innovative products and services that are available on-line.

A paper on next generation broadband is being finalised in the Department and will be published shortly for public consultation. The objective of the paper is to set out a strong framework for the development of next generation broadband in Ireland, including addressing the optimum role for Government both in terms of formulating and developing services and targeting direct investment. An expert international advisory forum on next generation broadband critically evaluated the policy issues, options and recommendations contained in the draft paper. It is being amended to take account of the forum's views and it will be published for public and industry consultation shortly. We need to position Ireland in order that it can stay at the forefront as an attractive destination for inward investment. Next generation broadband will be a critical element in our continuing efforts to do that.

Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. Will he convey to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources that Glencullen does not have access to wireless broadband? The local school, St. Patrick's, and the library would benefit from such access.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I will do so. The Minister is acutely aware of the issues applying to Glencullen and similar remote rural areas. He is confident the proposals outlined in my reply will address these serious deficits.