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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 5 Feb 2002

Vol. 547 No. 3

Ceisteanna – Questions. - Official Engagements.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

9 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach his plans to meet the Spanish Prime Minister to discuss their proposals for the European Union Presidency in the first six months of 2002; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1458/02]

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

10 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach his plans to meet the newly elected President of the European Parliament, Mr. Pat Cox; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2275/02]

Question:

11 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Taoiseach his likely agenda and priorities for the planned European Council session to be held in Barcelona in March 2002. [3112/02]

Joe Higgins

Question:

12 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Taoiseach if he will report on contacts with other European heads of Government since Dáil Éireann rose in December 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3114/02]

Joe Higgins

Question:

13 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Taoiseach if he will report on issues he discussed and conclusions reached at the European Union Laeken summit held in Brussels on 13, 14, and 15 December 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3118/02]

Michael Noonan

Question:

14 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the recent European Council meeting in Laeken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3510/02]

Michael Noonan

Question:

15 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his bilateral meetings during his attendance at the recent European Council meeting in Laeken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3511/02]

Michael Noonan

Question:

16 Mr. Noonan asked the Taoiseach when he next expects to meet the President of the European Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3513/02]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 16, inclusive, together.

I expect to meet President Aznar at the Barcelona European Council next month where we will discuss how to advance the process begun at Lisbon to make Europe the most dynamic, competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010, with full employment and increased social cohesion. I understand that President Aznar will do the usual tour of capitals in advance of the June European Council to be held in Seville.

The agenda for Barcelona has yet to be confirmed. However, Spain has set five priorities for the Barcelona European Council. These are the financial markets action plan; labour market mobility and the reform of the labour market; life-long education; energy liberalisation and telecommunications. The Government considered this issue before Christmas and it is clear that Ireland's priorities are strongly in line with the Spanish Presidency. At Barcelona, we will be aiming to give added impetus to the work for sustained economic growth, with increased sustainable employment opportunities and greater social cohesion. We will also be calling for tight deadlines to make the financial services internal market a reality, as this will make access to capital cheaper, give pension funds more scope for investment and profit and boost our financial services sector. We will also raise the issue of consumer protection in this sector.

To date, the European Union's employment strategies have significantly contributed to reducing unemployment. At Barcelona, however, we will be calling for further advances, with increased emphasis on making firms and employees more adaptable in the face of a rapidly changing business world. To remain competitive, companies must ensure that they and their workforces remain flexible and appropriately skilled so that they are capable of meeting changing work requirements and responding to both labour shortages and bottlenecks. In-company training will be crucial in this regard and life-long education has been highlighted as critical. Life-long education is of course a central part of our domestic policies. Ongoing and detailed consideration is being given to other issues that can be progressed at Barcelona.

I have no current plans to meet the President of the European Parliament, Mr. Pat Cox. However, I had the opportunity to speak to him on the phone after his election as President and was delighted to be able to congratulate him on what is an outstanding achievement both for him personally and for this country. The success of Pat Cox demonstrates that the smaller nations can have a key role to play in the institutions of Europe and that Ireland is playing its part to the full in building and developing the European Union. Pat Cox's success and other recent high-level appointments of Irish officials in the EU Commission shows that Ireland punches far above its weight on the European stage.

While I have no plans at present to meet the President of the European Commission, Mr. Romano Prodi, I will of course meet him at the Barcelona and Seville European Councils. I have not met any of the European heads of state since the Laeken European Council in December last. With regard to the questions tabled on the Laeken European Council, I refer the Deputies to my statement to the House on 30 January last.

Has the Government made a final decision on Ireland's participation in the convention and the nomination process for the three members of that convention – two from the Oireachtas and one from the Government – which was agreed at Laeken?

The Government has agreed the Government nominations. It has not finalised the others because that is a matter to be discussed in the Oireachtas between the Ceann Comhairle and the parties.

On that point, will the Taoiseach make it clear that the former Commissioner, at present an active member of the Fianna Fáil Party, Mr. Ray MacSharry, who has been nominated by the Government, will be seen by all in the House as the Fianna Fáil nominee? Will he make it clear that the Labour Party and Fine Gael will have nominees from this House and that that is the intention of the Government? Mr. MacSharry will be seen as a Fianna Fáil nominee on behalf of the Government and the next two parties of size in this House should be the parties which will nominate their members to attend the convention.

I hope that Mr. MacSharry, with his knowledge and experience, will be seen as representing the country in that job. That is the Government's wish and it wishes him well in that position. His alternate is Mr. Bobby McDonagh of the Department of Foreign Affairs who has been a considerable expert at Intergovernmental Conferences over a number of years and the author of a book on the Treaty of Amsterdam. We have tried to pick two people from the Government who would have the prestige, qualifications and dedication to give a commitment. I very much appreciate that Mr. MacSharry set aside commercial and other activities in his own life to give the necessary time to this. It will be time consuming.

I hear what Deputy Quinn says on the other matter and I have spoken to my Whip about it. I hope that the Whips can resolve it. I am anxious to ensure that the House is well represented. Needless to say, there have been many representations, which we must consider, from those on the other side of the Nice referendum.

I support Deputy Quinn's request to the Taoiseach. I would like him to treat the request seriously at the Whips' meetings and not just fob it off to these meetings for parking purposes. The Taoiseach, in his initial reply, talked about the ambition of Europe to be a modern, knowledge-based, industrial economy. Is the Taoiseach aware that the lack of roll-out of broadband facilities in Ireland is now a matter of serious concern? Is he particularly aware that we are third from the bottom of a league of OECD countries in the roll-out of broadband facilities? Is he aware that it takes five times as much money to transmit an item of data from Limerick, Cork or Galway to Dublin than to transmit similar data from Dublin to New York? How can the rest of the country, outside the greater Dublin area, be promoted for industrial purposes when there is such a divergence in cost of the transmission of data and any company involved in data transmission which wants to locate in Ireland is almost forced to do so in the greater Dublin area?

That is the reply to the first question. I would have thought my reply was sufficiently serious to make it clear that I was not fobbing anything off. I was merely making the point that there is a very sizeable portion of the population which does not see its European view reflected by the main parties in the House. It is also making a very active campaign about representation. It is an issue to which we must give some consideration. I do not either support it or reject it at this stage. It has been put in writing by at least one party in the House, not to mind the ones outside it.

I am well aware that Deputy Noonan has raised the matter of the broadband with me. Broadband divides into three separate areas. There is the international element of it and we stand very highly on the connection with Global Crossing and others outside the country. Secondly, on a regional basis, the broad band is processed out around the country and we stand very highly on that also. The major problem is in the third part – the final connection. Those in the ICT call it "the last mile". We are not in a good position here because when the issue came up, some years ago, the private sector made it very clear to the Government and to the State agencies that it required the liberalisation of the telecoms market and the State to enter into international and regional agreements. It indicated that it would take up the third part and there would be huge competition between private sector companies to do so. When it came to that stage the private sector was not there and has no interest whatever in taking up the third part.

That is how this issue came about. There is no use arguing over spilt milk but that is what happened. This is now accepted by the private interests in this area. I spoke to them about it a number of times recently. Deputy Noonan raised the matter with me. He said I should take it up with them and I did so. The Information Society Commission and the Minister for Public Enterprise have contacted all interested parties and asked them to co-operate with the State and its agencies to find a resolution to this issue. There is no point in the different bodies arguing, we must see how best we can meet this challenge.

There are two different fora – one convened by the ITC sectors of IBEC to examine how they can help, and the other by the Minister, who has called in a number of experts in this field from within and outside the State, to see how we can deal with the issue. This must be dealt with and it will not be unless the State takes some direct involvement, something that could be costly. The private sector is not investing in the infrastructure as it appeared would be the case some years ago. To make progress, the State must take the initiative.

Does the Taoiseach agree that, whatever his intentions, Mr. MacSharry, that eminent former Member of this House, has remained an active member of Fianna Fáil until this day and that under no circumstances could his appointment by the Government be seen as representing all the political forces in the Oireachtas? I say formally, as the leader of the party that proposed the Forum on Europe and that played an active part in the campaign for the Treaty of Nice, that the Labour Party expects to have a nominee from this Parliament in that convention.

It costs five times more to transfer an item of data from Cork, Limerick or Galway to Dublin than it does to transfer that item of data from Dublin to the United States. That spells disaster for anywhere outside Dublin as a location for modern industry. The Taoiseach must introduce a strategy on this.

I agree with the analysis that the private sector made commitments on which it did not deliver and, in retrospect, even though it was wise to sell Eircom as a company, there would have been merit in holding on to the infrastructure when the company was sold to provide the broadband facility. The Taoiseach is obliged to put a strategy in place to ensure we are not at the bottom of the list for broadband facilities in Europe. If it is Europe's objective to have a modern, knowledge-based, industrial economy, we must share that objective and we cannot do so while broadband access is so inadequate everywhere outside Dublin.

The intention at the outset was to make sure we would not be in that position. It is vital to the economy and to the State that we have broadband access. If we are to provide that we must have these discussions, both with IBEC and other main players, and with others who have stated a view.

The necessary infrastructure will not be put in place by the private sector and we must look at alternatives, such as public-private partnerships. As a result of other difficulties the international telecom markets have faced and because of third generation mobile phones, the capital required in the State for this investment is unlikely to come from those companies, so the State will have to be directly involved. The Minister for Public Enterprise and the Information Society Commission are engaged in formulating a plan to deal with the issue.

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