I raise the issue of mobile telephone coverage and the need for all-Ireland packages. If the Minister does much travelling around Ireland, he will be familiar with this issue. If not, he has a level of responsibility for places such as the Foyle so he might have some understanding of it.
The last time I spoke about roaming charges, mobile telephone coverage and telephone packages, the issue was the fact that when one crossed the Border one of the telephone companies put a text message on the system stating that one was now entering Ireland. Many people were very offended by that message so I had a great deal of interaction with the telephone company concerned. That message has now been removed and replaced with a message to point out that the person is roaming and the cost is such and such. I hope I will achieve the same level of success by raising this issue tonight.
I can buy a telephone package comprising anything from 200 minutes and 200 texts up to 600 minutes and 600 texts. The problem arises when I travel from Dublin through the North to my home or when I am at home and leave my telephone on automatic mode. The telephone will automatically pick up the UK Vodafone signal, for example. While I will not be charged roaming charges, the text message I receive or send or the telephone call I make will not be included in my package. Therefore, although I buy a package, I must pay for these other calls. I am no longer paying an international roaming charge but I am paying separately for the calls. Whether I travel through the North, which I must do to go home, or seek the stronger signal in my area, I am caught in that situation. I do not have a choice. I am not speaking specifically on my own behalf but on behalf of all those on the Border. In many locations the stronger signal is the UK signal, be it Orange, O2 or Vodafone. We are caught by the reality of needing to have both facilities to provide an overall service, yet there are two different charging regimes.
Many people from the Republic travel to the North as tourists while many Northerners come to the Republic for social, business and tourism reasons. There is no reason we should not consider forcing the issue of an all-Ireland common package whereby when I buy my 200 minutes, it does not matter where I use them or whether it is a UK or Irish company. While I acknowledge there has been a reduction in prices generally and particularly across Europe and that there is a general move towards lower tariffs, the fact that there are separate tariffs is the issue in this case.
When I raised the issue about the text message one received when one went from one jurisdiction into the other, I also raised this issue. Originally, I was told it was not technically possible to amalgamate the two schemes. I told the company concerned that I was a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and that we could take this on as an issue in the sub-committee. When the lady on the other end of the telephone heard that, she said: "So you have friends in high places." I said I had colleagues in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, including baronesses and so forth, who are members of the same committee. She reversed very quickly and said it is not a technical problem but a commercial decision.
I do not know if this is the Minister's direct responsibility. If this is a technical impossibility, we can examine the technical end of it but I am told it is a commercial decision. I ask that the Minister with responsibility for the issue here work with the Minister with the same responsibility in the Northern Ireland Assembly to push change and to drive the provision of a single package for mobile telephone coverage, which will work North and South and even north of the North, where I live.
