Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 979: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Ireland's current rating in the European and international league in regard to broadband availability in respect of communities of 10,000 or more, between 5,000 and 10,000, between 3,000 and 5,000 and under 5,000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29206/08]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Statistics on broadband penetration in Ireland are gathered centrally by ComReg and published in their quarterly reports which are available at www.comreg.ie. There is no breakdown available for individual towns.

The latest OECD statistics show Ireland maintaining its strong growth in terms of per-capita subscriber growth over the year to end of December 2007. Ireland added 5.89 subscribers per 100 inhabitants during 2007, far ahead of the OECD average of 3.02 per 100 inhabitants and third fastest of all OECD countries.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 980: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the action he has taken directly or in conjunction with his EU colleagues to improve Ireland's standing in the field of information technology with particular reference to the immediate availability of high speed broadband and general state of the art communications technology here with particular reference to the critical requirements of industry, commerce, education and medicine; if his attention has been drawn to the serious deficiencies in these areas at present; the degree to which Ireland has fallen behind its EU colleagues in this regard; if he will address the underlying cause or causes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29207/08]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is, in the first instance, a matter for the private sector. Broadband service providers operate in a fully liberalised market, regulated, where appropriate, by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.

The 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 latest OECD statistics show Ireland maintaining its strong growth in terms of per-capita subscriber growth over the year to end of December 2007. Ireland added 5.89 subscribers per 100 inhabitants during 2007, far ahead of the OECD average of 3.02 per 100 inhabitants and third fastest of all OECD countries.

My attention is also firmly fixed on next generation broadband networks. I recently published a draft policy paper on Next Generation Broadband Networks for consultation. The paper considers the optimum role for Government in facilitating the roll out of high speed broadband networks and sets out the Government's commitments in that regard. A central commitment is that there will be universal access to broadband by end 2009/early 2010 and that by 2012 our broadband speeds will equal or exceed those in comparator EU regions.