Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 200: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the action he will take to stop unsolicited text messages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13486/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The sending of unsolicited text messages for direct marketing purposes without the consent of the mobile phone subscriber or user is an offence under national legislation. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has statutory responsibility for monitoring compliance in this area. Any complaint regarding the receipt of unsolicited text messages should be directed to it for investigation and appropriate follow-up enforcement action.

If a person has unwittingly subscribed to a service on their mobile phone, which incurs an ongoing charge on their telephone bill, it is probable that they have subscribed to a premium rate service. The Commission for Communications Regulation has statutory responsibility for the regulation of premium rate services. Any complaint regarding such services should be directed to that body. Comprehensive information on the rights of individuals and complaints procedures is available on the websites of these bodies.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The provision of broadband services is, in the first instance, a matter for private sector service providers operating in Ireland's fully liberalised telecommunications market. Broadband services are provided by private service providers over various platforms including DSL (i.e. over telephone lines), fixed wireless, mobile, cable, fibre and satellite. Details of the broadband services available in each county can be found on ComReg's website, www.callcosts.ie. In cases of market failure, the Government will intervene where it is appropriate and possible to do so.

The National Broadband Scheme (NBS) represents such an intervention. EU State aid and competition rules govern how states can intervene in areas where existing service providers are operating. Accordingly, the NBS is prohibited from providing a service in served areas where to do so would give rise to an unacceptable level of market distortion. The areas of south Dublin referred to in the Deputy's question were deemed to be adequately covered by existing commercial operators and were therefore excluded from the scheme.

It continues to be a priority of the Government that there will be broadband coverage across the entire country. I am aware that there continues to be a small percentage of premises throughout the country that are not capable of receiving broadband services. This is primarily due to technical and other reasons, such as suitability of a telephone line, distance from an enabled exchange or no line of sight etc. The European Commission has set aside a portion of the European Economic Recovery Programme funding for rural broadband initiatives. Using this funding, which will be augmented by an Exchequer contribution, earlier this month I formally launched a Rural Broadband Scheme. This scheme aims to identify the remaining individual premises in rural Ireland, outside of the NBS areas, that are unable to obtain a broadband service and to provide a basic broadband service to those premises where requested. Information in relation to acceptance of applications and the process of qualification under the scheme is available on my Department's website, www.dcenr.ie, or by contacting my Department on lo-call 1850 678100.

In addition, under the NewERA proposals in the programme for Government, there is a commitment to co-invest with the private sector and commercial semi-State sector to provide next generation broadband to every home and business in the State. Consideration of how best to advance these proposals is being advanced by my Department with other stakeholders across Government.