Vol. 489 No. 5
26 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the additional powers and responsibilities conferred on the Director of Telecommunications Regulation by recent ministerial orders; the total responsibilities of the regulator; and the plans, if any, she has to introduce legislation to make the regulator responsible in the operation of her powers to Dáil Éireann. [8357/98]
Apart from the powers conferred on the Director of Telecommunications Regulation by the Telecommunications (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act, 1996 which established that office, additional powers have been conferred on the director by the following instruments: (a) the European Communities (Telecommunications Services Monitoring) Regulations, 1997 (S. I. No. 284 of 1997); (b) the European Communities (Telecommunications Infrastructure) Regulations, 1997 (S. I. No. 338 of 1997); (c) the European Communities (Application of Open Network Provision to Voice Telephony) Regulations, 1997, (S. I. No. 445 of 1997); (d) the European Communities (Interconnection in Telecommunications) Regulations, 1998 (S. I. No. 15 of 1998); (e) the European Communities (Electromagnetic Compatibility) Regulations, 1998 (S. I. No. 22 of 1998).
The total responsibilities of the director are set out in the instruments mentioned. In summary the powers relate to: the issue and enforcement of licences for all telecommunications services; the management and control of the radio frequency spectrum including the licensing of users of the spectrum; the management and control of the national telecommunications numbering plan; ensuring that commercial agreements in relation to interconnection of networks conform to EU regulatory principles; ensuring that services provided by Telecom Éireann as the dominant national operator are provided in accordance with EU Regulatory requirements; and the enforcement of standards in relation to certain apparatus.
The Deputy will appreciate that this summary is not exhaustive. Additional powers are to be given to the director over the next 18 months through the transposition of further EU Directives concerned with the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector.
Under the terms of the Telecommunications (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1996 the director is currently obliged to submit to me both the accounts of her office and a report concerning the performance of her functions in the previous year. I am, in turn under the Act obliged to lay these documents before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The question of the accountability of the Director to the Oireachtas is one which I will consider in the context of legislation dealing with the powers of the director which I hope to introduce later in the year.
