I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, to the House.
Communications Regulation and Digital Hub Development Agency (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage
Question proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The Communications Regulation and Digital Hub Development Agency (Amendment) Bill 2022 is ambitious and broad-ranging legislation that will make a number of key changes to a range of areas, including the regulation of electronic communications, protection of electronic communications consumers, security of communications networks and changes to postal services and to the Digital Hub Development Agency. The first and primary purpose of the Bill is to update the regulatory framework for communications in the State. This is achieved in two ways, which I will address separately. The first is the provision of a new and enhanced enforcement regime for the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. The second is ensuring the transposition of the European Electronic Communications Code.
In respect of the update to ComReg's enforcement powers, this Bill represents the biggest update to the regulation of the electronic communications sector since ComReg's establishment in 2002. It will provide the commission with the tools it needs to regulate the sector effectively and will bring its powers further in line with comparable regulators in the State and in Europe. ComReg will be empowered to find non-compliance, impose sanctions up to €5 million or 10% of annual turnover, require operators to pay refunds and compensation, and withdraw authorisation and rights of use for spectrum and numbering resources. These penalties will ensure the sanctions available to ComReg are effective, proportionate and dissuasive in a sector of the scale of electronic communications, which is worth approximately €3.5 billion every year to the Irish economy.
A range of new settlement options will be available, including a new section 62 resolution agreement, the acceptance of binding commitments and the entering into of a settlement agreement. A new urgent interim measure procedure will also be provided to ensure tools are available in advance of the conclusion of any adjudication to address instances of non-compliance that risk public safety, public security and public health or may lead to the creation of serious economic or operational problems for other providers or users.
In order to ensure this new regime complies with the Irish constitutional requirements in light of the Supreme Court judgment in the Zalewski case, comprehensive procedural safeguards have been included in the Bill that are similar to those provided in the Competition (Amendment) Act 2022. The safeguards were developed in close co-operation with the Office of the Attorney General. Adjudications of suspected breaches will be carried out by adjudicators, who may be internal ComReg staff or external experts nominated by ComReg and appointed by the Minister.
These adjudicators will be independent in the performance of their functions, and I will publish regulations to give further effect to this requirement in the coming months.
Decisions of the adjudicators will also be subject to confirmation by the High Court and subject to appeals to that same body. The Bill also provides for the carrying out of oral hearings, rules for the admission of evidence and the taking of oaths and affirmations. In respect of the transposition of the European Electronic Communications Code, EECC, the directive consolidates and updates the previous regulatory framework for electronic communications in Europe, and it makes it fit for purpose in the digital age. The majority of that directive will be transposed through the European Electronic Communications Code Regulations 2022. These were signed on 6 September and they will be commenced concurrently with this Bill. The enforcement of those regulations and the designation of ComReg as the competent authority for this enforcement will be provided by this Bill. The security and the small number of consumer provisions of that directive will also be transposed by the Bill and I will address them shortly.
It is not possible to discuss all of the code regulations, but I want to highlight one particular aspect of them, namely, the introduction of a universal service obligation for broadband. This is an instrument that could be used in the future to ensure that gigabit broadband services continue to be deployed by commercial operators, and that small numbers of premises are not left behind within these commercial areas. The expectation is, however, that as commercial operators upgrade their existing infrastructure or build new gigabit broadband infrastructure, they will design their deployments to avoid leaving small pockets of households and businesses stranded where end users cannot connect to that network. Any future universal service obligation will not seek to compensate inefficient network designs that may be driven by a narrow short-term commercial focus to the detriment of end users in that area, potentially creating a future digital divide.
All the obligations created by the regulations will be civilly enforceable under this new civil enforcement regime. Particular obligations will also be subject to criminal enforcement, with a further select few subject to a maximum criminal penalty of €10 million if prosecuted on indictment. The Bill specifically provides for this higher level of maximum criminal penalty for these particular offences.
Ireland is currently subject to infringement proceedings for failing to meet its obligation to transpose the EECC by the deadline of 21 December 2020. The Commission initiated proceedings in the European Court of Justice against Ireland in respect of this infringement in July 2022. A hearing date is expected to be set down by the court in the coming months. These infringement proceedings have the potential to lead to extensive fines being imposed on Ireland. The only way to mitigate against the imposition of these potentially substantial fines is through the speedy transposition of the EECC, which this Bill will ensure.
The Bill will also update the Communications Regulation Act 2002 to align that Act with the EECC and to make necessary amendments to ComReg's current functions and powers to improve its functionality and to complement the new proposed enforcement regime. These changes will improve the overall coherence of the regulatory regime. These amendments will include, among others, a broadened information-gathering power, ability to reuse gathered information, ability to better assist with policymaking, and improvements to the notification, privilege and overcharging provisions.
The Bill will provide consumers with a suite of new protections when they are interacting with this sector. These provisions have been drafted in close consultation with ComReg, and they address the number of consumer service complaints that have arisen in recent years. The Bill will provide for an enhanced alternative dispute resolution process for consumers managed by ComReg, which retains the requirement for operators to have a code of practice for complaint handling. ComReg will be empowered to require operators to publish information on the quality of service they provide to their customers and to publish a customer charter. The customer charter will clearly set out the standards that consumers can expect their services to provide. If the service provided to customers is not adequate, ComReg will be permitted to set minimum quality of service standards that operators must guarantee to their consumers in a range of areas, including in respect of call-answering times, notification of outages, time taken to review billing queries and time taken for initial connection to the network. Failure to comply with these standards will constitute a breach for the purposes of the Bill and will also be capable of giving rise to the payment of compensation to a consumer pursuant to the new end user compensation regime also to be established by the Bill.
The Bill will also play a key role in contributing to the security of our electronic communications networks. While Ireland's networks have proven very resilient, electronic communications networks are an attractive target to malicious threat actors. They can disrupt our networks as well as steal sensitive data. We have seen the devastation that can be caused when those who wish to do us harm attack critical infrastructure when criminals attacked our health service in 2021. Disruption to our electronic communications infrastructure could be equally damaging, with the potential to have cascading effects through the rest of critical infrastructure, making the protection of these networks of paramount importance to the Government. Under the Bill, our next generation networks will be built upon a solid foundation that is resilient to future threats by ensuring operators manage the risks posed to their networks and services, as well as to report significant security incidents.
There have been three important additions to the Bill since it was published and introduced to the Dáil. These are a new Part that provides tools to address the issue of high-risk vendors, amendments to the Digital Hub Development Agency Act 2003 and amendments to the Postal and Telecommunications Act 1983 to provide additional funding to the post office network. Consideration is being given to amending the terminology utilised in the sections relating to high-risk vendors. I am looking forward to hearing the Senators comments on the Bill. I think my time is up.
We are here to listen to the Minister of State, and questions will be put to him as well. If he would like more time to finish his contribution, we would be interested in hearing everything he has to say.
I will keep going then.
In respect of the amendments relating to high-risk vendors, these amendments will set out how a risk assessment will be conducted, aligned with the principles of the EU toolbox for 5G security. Recognising the functions exercised by certain Departments and agencies in respect of national security, the risk assessment will be conducted in consultation with relevant stakeholders across government. These amendments will also set out how high-risk vendors will be identified, and will provide for ministerial notices to restrict or ban such vendors on networks as a whole or specific parts of networks. It is important to note that the amendments contain numerous obligations to consult with those affected by measures prior to taking such actions and they will be fully adhered to in the event that powers are exercised. There will also be extensive cross-government consultation before any measures are taken. ComReg will be tasked with the supervision and enforcement of orders relating to high-risk vendors. Similar legislation has been implemented in 19 member states, and a further five are indicating that they are an advanced stage of preparation. Likewise, the UK also enacted similar provisions recently.
The amendment relating to the Digital Hub Development Agency Act 2003 is being brought forward in the context of the Government decision of April 2021 that the Digital Hub Development Agency, DHDA, should be dissolved and that its lands should be transferred to the Land Development Agency, LDA. The amendments will reduce the membership of the agency from 14 to eight and will reduce the number required for a quorum from six to four. As the nature and focus of the work of the agency necessarily narrows during the period ahead of dissolution, there is a lower requirement for a board size originally provided for in the Digital Hub Development Agency Act. Providing for a lower number required for a quorum will permit for a continued functioning board throughout the dissolution process. It mitigates against the risk of the board becoming inquorate during the wind-down and dissolution period.
Finally, in respect of the amendment to the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983, the amendment will enable €10 million per annum to be provided to the post office network over a three-year fixed term of 2023 to 2025. This is on foot of a Government decision that was made in May 2022 to support a sustainable nationwide post office network in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. The amendment also provides a legal basis for funding granted from the EU's Brexit Adjustment Reserve, BAR, to be directed to An Post following a successful application for funding of €24 million from the BAR in respect of the management of EU customs and VAT requirements applying to all An Post-UK traffic following the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the constructive engagement towards the Bill during its passage through the Dáil. I hope that I approached all debates and amendments with a spirit of co-operation and compromise. I hope to continue this constructive engagement as the Bill progresses through the Seanad.
I will turn to the main provisions of the Bill. Part 1 contains standard provisions dealing with the Title, collective citation and commencement. It provides for definitions of terms used in the Bill.
Part 2 transposes the security provisions of the code Articles 40 and 41. It also places general obligations on providers of electronic communications networks and services to take appropriate and proportionate security measures to manage the risks that are posed to their networks and services. There are also obligations on providers to report significant security incidents to ComReg. The Bill provides a mechanism by which regulations can be made specifying the types of security measure that providers shall take, thus providing a statutory basis for the electronic communications security measures which are a detailed set of technical security measures produced by the National Cybersecurity Centre in consultation with ComReg and industry to secure the State's electronic communications infrastructure. The security provisions provide additional supervisory and enforcement powers to ComReg to ensure compliance with the security provisions.
Part 3 is also focused on the security of electronic communications networks, but it specifically deals with the issue of high-risk vendors. The Minister has the power to designate parts of the network as being critical network components and, in other words, to decide which networks are the most critical and which it would be detrimental to national security or public order to allow for high-risk vendors to be present on those parts of the network. Part 3 also sets out a risk assessment that will be conducted aligned with the principles of the EU toolbox for 5G security, which are non-discriminatory and do not target any specific country or vendor.
The Bill also sets out how high-risk vendors will be designated and will provide for high-risk vendor measures to stop a provider from installing, using or varying the use of critical components made by a high-risk vendor. ComReg is tasked with the supervision and enforcement of orders relating to high-risk vendors.
Part 4 provides for measures to assist consumers and other end users. This Part permits ComReg to specify minimum quality of service standards to be met by service providers. Once minimum standards have been set, failure to meet these minimum standards would constitute a regulatory breach but will also be capable of giving rise to the payment of compensation to a consumer through a new end-user compensation scheme. ComReg will also require providers to publish information on the quality of service they provide and to publish a customer charter. The aim of this customer charter is to provide consumers with one easily accessible and comparable place to get information as to the quality of service provided by an operator.
Part 5 sets out the procedure for the resolution of complaints and disputes. It provides for an enhanced alternative dispute resolution procedure. It also carries forward the existing complaints handling codes of practice from the universal service and user rights regulations of 2011.
Part 6 provides that ComReg may take urgent interim measures to remedy a situation where it has evidence of a breach of the conditions of the general authorisation, rights of use or of these specific obligations, which represent an immediate and serious threat to public safety, public security or public health or risks creating serious economic or operational problems for other providers or users of electronic communications networks or services or other users of radio spectra.
Part 7 sets out a new civil sanctioning regime for ComReg. This will include the ability to find non-compliance and to impose a range of penalties, including administrative financial sanctions up to a maximum €5 million or 10% of annual turnover, as well as compensation, refunds and the suspension and withdrawal of authorisation or rights of use subject to court confirmation, as appropriate. ComReg will also be permitted to enter into a new section 44 resolution agreement, accept binding commitments and enter into settlement agreements.
Part 8 amends the European Union electronic communications code regulations of 2022 to provide for a higher penalty for the commission of an indictable offence which is stated to be an offence to which a statutory penalty applies. The higher level of penalty will be a fine not exceeding €10 million.
Part 9 sets out the amendments made by this Bill to the Communications Regulation Act 2002 that are required to ensure legislative coherence and that ComReg is equipped to carry out all its new functions under the code.
Part 10 amends the Digital Hub Development Agency Act 2003 to reduce the size of the agency from 14 to eight members. This is to ensure that it is of a scale proportional to its focus, pending its dissolution. The 2003 Act is also amended to reduce the quorum for a meeting with the agency from six to four. This will allow for a functioning board throughout the dissolution period and reduce the risk of the board becoming inquorate.
Finally, Part 11 sets out the amendment to the Postal and Telecommunications Service Act 1983 which is necessary to provide a statutory basis for the provision of funding from the Minister to the post office network via An Post. The amendment will also enable funding granted under the EU's Brexit adjustment reserve to be provided to An Post as compensation for the impact of Brexit on the company.
The Bill will provide ComReg with an enhanced and updated enforcement regime. It will ensure Ireland's regulatory landscape for electronic communications is robust and dynamic enough to meet the needs of the electronic communications sector over the coming years. It will ensure that Ireland meets its legal obligations regarding the transposition of the European electronic communications code. It will enhance the security of the electronic communications service at a vital time geopolitically. It will greatly enhance consumer protections in the sector and ensure the Communications Regulation Act 2002 contributes to the meeting of these objectives. It will also provide an Post and the postal network with key additional funding. Finally, it will make necessary changes to how the Digital Hub Development Agency board carries out its business during its winding down.
Go raibh maith agat. Fáilte romhat isteach a Aire Stáit. Táim an-bhuíoch díot as an sáorobair atá deanta agat ar an Bill tábhachtach seo. This is a very important and comprehensive Bill that ticks many of the boxes for measures we need to see as soon as possible.
As Green Party spokesperson on rural development, I cannot reiterate often enough the importance of the roll-out of rural broadband, which comes into play in this Bill. A universal service obligation for broadband is critical. We already have it for telephone services. That the Bill provides that broadband black spots will not be allowed in future is very important. I get numerous phone calls from people who are hanging from a barn or shed roof trying to make phone calls or get Internet access as they try to run a business. People are paying through the nose for decent broadband. I could speak ad nauseam about the lengths people have to go to run a business and get access to phone and broadband coverage.
With that in mind, it would be great to get some figures on progress in rolling out rural broadband. I know there has been some positive developments in expediting that. The Minister of State referred to there being no broadband black spots in future. When exactly will that be? Everything is happening in the future but it would be good to have narrower timelines. The Minister of State also said the Bill will ensure that rural homes are not left off the network, if too far from the main line. That is good news. Many of us feel we are going to be left out because while broadband is being provided in villages, the companies are forgetting about the hinterlands. I hear this regularly from people living in rural Ireland. It is good that action is being taken and I know the speed at which the companies are working has vastly improved.
To give one anecdote, Barefield National School was promised broadband two years in a row. In the end, the head of National Broadband Ireland, NBI, and I had to get involved because the contractors were doing a bit of work, leaving and coming back a few weeks later to do another bit of wiring. It was going on and on. It is not my job or the job of the head of NBI to get involved in the provision of broadband for one school. Barefield National School now has broadband and there was nearly a bottle of champagne popped because it had been waiting so long. We need make sure contractors and subcontractors are doing things in a timely fashion. They are charging enough to do the work. There has to be some follow-up on how long it takes them to do it so that the head of NBI and I do not have to go into such detail in a school. For me to receive so many emails and phone calls about one school is not an efficient or sustainable way of rolling out broadband. We need to put it back on the contractors a small bit.
Consumer protection, the idea of having a basic standard of services provision for customers, is a major issue. If companies do not meet the standard, they are to be fined, finally. That is important because people are sick of waiting for hours on end for Eircom or whoever to get back to them. I apologise for mentioning a particular company because none of them is either very good or very bad. However, there have been so many complaints by people who have been left for hours waiting and trying to figure out things. People can also queue for hours in mobile phone shops, which they do not always have time to do.
Rural broadband is essential for business and working from home. It is essential for balanced regional development to give people in rural areas the chance to work where they live, the same way as people in urban areas with good broadband can. It is also part of the cost of living because if we can work from home, we can reduce our travel costs. It is important that the Bill deals with the regulation of the communications sector because people need to get fair prices for phone and broadband services.
I worked from home for 12 years full time when most people were not doing it. I was working for an NGO and I had to work with schools in three counties but my office was at home. There was no digital hub near me at the time. I approached Gerry Fitzpatrick, God rest him, who had an empty building in Ennistymon, which was previously a Supervalu shop. It is now one of the best digital hubs in Ireland. It has start-ups, phone rooms and meeting rooms. It is an amazing success and has brought people to live in the area. These things, as well as good broadband, are very important socially and mentally. Even if people have good broadband at home, it is often good to have a place like a digital hub to go to in order to interact with other people.
I would like to see a specific grant provided for installing solar panels on the roofs of digital hub buildings. These are high energy intensive places where the heating has to be kept on to keep people warm all day every day. Money should also be ring-fenced for the public relations efforts of digital hubs because not everybody knows they exist. We have ten of them in County Clare, in Ennistymon, Ennis, Milltown Malbay, Corofin, Sixmilebridge, Feakle, Cross, Kilkee, Kilrush and my home village of Inagh. However, many people are still not aware of them. People need to be reminded of that. Perhaps local authorities or the providers are not that au fait with Instagram, LinkedIn and the other places where the movers and shakers who would use a digital hub would be active. An advertisement in the local paper is not going to get those people into the digital hubs. A PR piece on them would be useful.
This is a positive Bill. The supports provided for local rural post offices cannot be praised enough. Go raibh míle maith agat as an obair thar a bheith tábhachtach do mhuintir na tuaithe.
The Minister of State is very welcome. What a pleasure it is to have him here. He is very proactive in respect of this entire area. I am delighted to see him pick up the mantle and do what has to be done. I was particularly happy to see him sign an agreement with our colleagues in Finland recently. My colleagues and I met him to discuss training in the cyber area. I hope that, in the very near future, we will see the roll-out of a cyber range, available to those concerned about the security of their systems, through an agreement with companies in Estonia, for example.
We had a cyberattack on the HSE. It is one of those things that can never be prevented, as the Minister of State and I discussed recently. The attacker has to get it right only once but we have to get it right all the time to protect against attacks on our systems. I am delighted to see work is being done on ComReg. I would like to see it seriously strengthened.
Cybersecurity and other cyber issues are now out in the open. Everybody has some awareness of these. We must be far more visible about the types of attacks that can take place. I experienced a very innocent one very recently, having signed up to a particular service through my Internet service provider. The first credit card number I put in was rejected, as was the second. Twenty minutes later, I got a telephone call from Permanent TSB telling me my card had just been used for a particular website. Twenty minutes after that, AIB rang me to tell me my card had just been used. I regard myself as someone who is highly aware of cyber issues and cybercrime, but it goes to show how easily one can be targeted.
What the Minister of State is doing here is well timed. As he well knows, the issue is always that technology is racing ahead of all of us all of the time, so the legislation will have to be extremely robust and flexible. There will have to be flexibility in it allowing the Minister to make statutory instruments to meet oncoming threats, for example. I am aware that the Minister of State has put much work into this and that the Bill has gone through the Dáil. I am going to go through it in more detail with some colleagues but I hope we will not delay it in any way and that we will get it through the House as quickly as possible.
The Minister of State has done good work on the National Cyber Security Centre. It is in place and staff are being employed. I am always against private operators in public areas but believe the centre, working in very close co-operation with private operators, is vital for this State, given the amount of foreign direct investment we have. From that point of view, I am really happy to see the Minister of State bringing this legislation on board. I am happy we are not the lagger in the EU. We are somewhere around the middle with respect to transposing the legislation, which is good.
The one thing that has saved us to date is that the multinationals here, particularly in the IT sector, have taken care of their own security. I ask the Minister of State, as someone who sits at the Cabinet, to consider a national intelligence service and director of intelligence for Ireland. We have too many agencies that operate within their own spheres; however, as far as I am aware, having spoken about this for several years, we have nobody dragging all the intelligence into a central area. Although the Minister of State’s portfolio is quite full, it would suit to have a director of national intelligence working in association with his Department. I would also like to see the National Cyber Security Centre moved closer to Government Buildings, where it would have direct access to the Taoiseach’s office if needed. Its current location is simply not good enough. National cybersecurity services in other countries all have direct access to the Prime Minister and relevant Minister. I would like this to be considered in the near future.
I do not propose to impede anything in this Bill and will support the Minister of State in any way I can. I thank him for attending and hope we can always work together the way we have.
I am sharing time with Senator Horkan.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute and thank the Minister of State for setting out the position in the Bill. Since I am short of time, I will ask a couple of questions. We have seen the electronic communications sector develop so rapidly in the past ten years. There is obviously such a need to change the existing framework. We have been notified to the European Court of Justice for not transposing the legislation, as have other member states. Have we learned any lessons from that? Is there an issue within the Department that needs to be addressed? We should not be dragging our heels on this, particularly because we have such an important technological position, with some of the top communications companies based here. We set ourselves up as a zone for economic development based on this. Could this be considered?
I am conscious that there are several other aspects of this Bill to be considered, particularly its inclusion of the capacity to identify high-risk vendors. The Bill refers to being aligned with the principles of the EU toolbox for 5G security. It is not that I have concerns but it is worth identifying the potential for some blocs to identify companies for political and commercial purposes. In this regard, we often see a battle between the East and West. Europe has its own views on certain companies. We will have to be seen to be very independent, with the effect that whatever process is in place to identify the companies is not just taking the word of other countries and jurisdictions for which we have a lot of respect and with which we engage a lot; we will still need to have a high level of independence in our approach. I will ask the Minister of State, maybe at a later stage, to confirm the position in this regard. He has talked about amendments in this regard. It is really important because we have an economic interest in attracting foreign investment to this country. All the top companies from right across the sector are based here. Even some of the companies on others’ blacklists are here. We will have to ensure that we do a really deep dive in our analysis of any company before we set it apart.
How long does the Minister of State believe it will take to dissolve the Digital Hub Development Agency? Are there issues he believes might delay this? If he has identified anything in this regard, he might share it with us. Since we are talking about the dissolution of the agency, it is worth noting that a former short-term Member of this House, Mr. Paul Kavanagh, was one of the inspirational people or drivers behind it.
On the An Post side, I am pleased a legislative framework is being put in place in respect of the provision of money to the post office network, but I have long argued for and advocated the putting in place of a universal service obligation for the network rather than providing money piecemeal on an ongoing basis. That is something we might talk about later.
I thank Senator Dooley for sharing time. It is always good to have the Minister of State in the House. I cannot think of a better person in Leinster House to be dealing with these kinds of topics. He is particularly familiar with this area and brings much of his expertise to it. I certainly welcome that.
I certainly welcome the enforcement regime involving ComReg. So many consumers ring up companies and get stuck for 20 minutes, 25 minutes or half an hour only for no follow-through to happen. It is very important that ComReg be tasked with going out to find non-compliance, not just dealing with reports coming in. This would be very positive.
On the universal service obligation, I now regard broadband to be like running water and electricity. It is something everybody should be able to get, regardless of their location. The An Post element is important.
I have concerns, which we have discussed at the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, about An Post. It is important we keep an eye on it over the longer term and give it as many services as we can. With broadband coming along, people may need to use the post office less. We will have to find more services to give it a purpose and add services that it can provide. We will have to save it from other things.
The digital hub aspect is being wound down, which is a sensible provision. Senator Dooley made a point about high-risk vendors. The Minister of State said that 19 member states have implemented similar legislation and five more are at an advanced stage of preparation. We are there too and one member state has been left behind. Are many countries using the phrase "high-risk vendor"? It seems a slightly inflammatory and unnecessary phrase. A better phrase could be used to achieve the same intention that the EU and other countries are targeting. How many countries are using the term? How many have inserted it in legislation? It is slightly insulting and offensive to suggest that any company is a high-risk vendor. There are certainly aspects of a network that are sensitive but this should be more about the area of opportunity and responsibility rather than the supplier involved. Areas, rather than vendors, are high risk.
The Minister of State is welcome and I thank him for his comprehensive introduction to the Bill, which is a large piece of paperwork. It is important to note that we had not transposed the EECC by the deadline in 2020. We are well behind in that regard. We are looking at significant fines from Europe. It is important for this Bill to pass through the House quickly.
The Title refers to the Digital Hub Development Agency. I put on record my thanks, in particular, to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, for the significant investment she put into the development of digital hubs throughout the country. A digital hub in my county was nominated for an EU award at a ceremony in Prague. I also thank the local authorities for the development of community hubs in the various community centres not only in Longford but throughout the country. That is important. There is a need for it, as was never more clear than during the pandemic. It is important that the infrastructure will be there in the future.
The national broadband plan, NBP, is rolling out broadband throughout the country. There is legislation here to ensure no house is left behind, which is important. Every person in every house must know that while it may take time until their house has high-speed broadband, it will happen. It is important that everyone realises that.
This is about giving teeth to ComReg to do what it needs in the industry, going forward, and giving it the power to properly regulate the industry in this country and the significant numbers of providers that are based here.
I will also mention the post office network. I have been working for a number of years to ensure we have a sustainable network of post offices throughout the country. It is important to note that I am a postmaster and, therefore, I am aware of the significance of the Government funding that was put in place last May. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, for the support she gave and the interaction she had with the Irish Postmasters' Union to ensure this funding was put in place. The reality is that if this funding had not been put in place and support had not come from Government, in the region of 200 to 300 post offices would have closed in the first six months of 2023. That would have happened. One can imagine the impact that would have had on a large number of communities throughout the country, not only in rural areas but also in urban communities. People must realise that this is about sustaining the network and, thereby, sustaining communities throughout the country. I welcome and fully support the Government's intervention. It is important that we see the speedy passage of the legislation to ensure the funding finds its way to the postmasters who have experienced significant wage decreases in recent months, particularly in urban areas, where rents are high. Many postmasters are finding it difficult to keep going.
Senator Horkan suggested putting more government services into post offices and we need to do that. We need to put significantly more government services into post offices. We do not need situation where officials from the Department of Social Protection, and not at the direction of the Minister, are writing to customers, who need the post offices to collect their pensions or whatever payment they may be getting, and asking them to move their payments directly to the banks. An exercise with regard to jobseeker's allowance was undertaken during the pandemic. That highlighted the significant revenue that is fraudulently lost to the taxpayer by those payments being made directly into bank accounts rather than via the post office. On average, €60 million per year is refunded to the Department of Social Protection from An Post in unclaimed payments. None of that comes back from the banks if those payments are paid into bank accounts. One could ask questions. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is in support of all jobseeker's payments coming from the post offices rather than through the banks. Realistically, we also need to look at other payments too. I believe that a significant amount is being lost to the Exchequer. During the pandemic, phone calls were made to elderly people advising them it would be better for their health and safety if they moved those payments. We need to put more business and support into the post office. We also need consider the future and ensure that in 12 or 18 months, other safeguards and funding are put in place to allow for a continuing and sustainable network across communities in the years ahead.
Curim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. As others have said, the Bill aims to provide ComReg with more powers, which is a move that Sinn Féin welcomes. ComReg needs stronger regulatory and consumer protection powers if it is to be able to do its job. I recently had reason to contact ComReg regarding power outages that were impacting the ability of people to contact emergency services. I flagged that this may be an issue during a Commencement matter some time ago. ComReg was prompt in its response and its representatives were a pleasure to deal with. Its most recent annual report highlighted that it received approximately 79,000 contacts from customers over a 12-month period, which shows the demand that is placed on the regulator by consumers. It also highlights the need for robust powers to ensure high standards are met in the telecom sector.
As others have pointed out, the Bill also deals with what are euphemistically called "high-risk vendors". The measures in the Bill are in the context of security concerns but could have serious ramifications for indigenous companies. We need to proceed cautiously and with a circumspect view to ensure that communications companies that have installed infrastructure are not facing a cliff edge.
The Minister of State referred to the amendments to the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 for payments to be made to or via An Post, particularly in the context of the provision of support to postmasters. We should all commend the work that is done by the IPU. The Grant Thornton report outlined what was necessary for sustainability. If anyone needed a lesson on how essential and important the post office network is, it was delivered during the pandemic. We are all aware of the impact that the closure of a post office has on communities. It is important that we have a sustainable post office model in the future.
The amendments that have been adopted are welcome but there is more to be done to support postmasters. We are happy to work with the Minister of State as this Bill progresses. Sinn Féin is happy to support and welcome the Bill and we will not object to its passage beyond Second Stage.
I thank Senators for their contributions, which were, as ever, interesting and insightful. Senator Garvey welcomed the delivery of a universal service obligation. As she said, there is one for landline telephones.
This is now an evolution of this whereby everybody in the country will be entitled to a broadband connection at a minimum speed for an affordable price. It will be more complex to regulate this because we have more than one telecoms operator, unlike in the old days, where there was just one company.
Senator Garvey asked about broadband in County Clare and how long it will take, and, specifically, what the roll-out time is. This is a seven-year project that started in 2020 and concludes at the end of 2026. We have completed three years, so we have another four years to go. I understand this cannot come soon enough for people who are scheduled to be connected in years six and seven. Some of them may need stopgap solutions in the meantime. Two large areas in Clare have been connected. The next area that is due for connection is around Corofin, which has 2,762 premises and will be connected next year. In the meantime, the stopgap solution we are offering is that we have more than 800 connection points, which are hubs or places around the country, perhaps it can be a local community centre or GAA club, that one can go to and get a Wi-Fi connection and do some work. I was also asked about the development of those in the future. Senator Garvey suggested putting solar panels on them. I am looking to put solar panels on just about every public building we can find and, therefore, we will consider hubs as part of that. We will also connect them all to fibre within the next couple of years, so they will all be upgraded because they mostly have wireless connections. We may boost the power of the Wi-Fi service they are providing to people. We will see what we can do to expand them.
Every school in the country should have broadband by the end of June of this year. All secondary schools have been connected, of course, and some primary schools are remaining. More than 600 schools are connected.
Senator Craughwell said we cannot 100% protect ourselves from cyberattack, which is true. He described how he was a victim of a phishing attack. The truth is that it can happen to all of us. It is not a sign that there is anything wrong with us or we are stupid if we get scammed. We are constantly being assailed with these types of attacks on the Internet. I have been working with ComReg to make a number of changes to the communications networks to reduce the level of scams, which have gone down since the pandemic, when there was an epidemic of phishing and smishing attacks.
Senator Craughwell also asked about the possibility of having some kind of director of intelligence service that oversees all the intelligence agencies in the State. The State has two intelligence agencies - one is under the Garda and one is under the Department of Defence. They are co-ordinated along with the National Cyber Security Centre, which is a civilian operation. Those three arms of national security are co-ordinated by the National Security Analysis Centre, which is a small unit in the Department of the Taoiseach. We have a co-ordination function. I am flattered that Senator Craughwell thinks that I should be in charge of it but I am not planning that.
Senator Dooley asked the reason for the delay in the transposition of this directive. Normally, directives are transposed through secondary legislation. In this case, the Attorney General advised us that we must do it through primary legislation. It provides for an alternative dispute resolution process that has to fit within the prescriptions of the Constitution on how our judicial system works. We have to make sure that it is compatible with our existing court and, therefore, we require primary legislation to implement it and that is why we are doing it now.
I was also asked how long the dissolution of the DHDA will take. I am tabling a Bill that I will present before the House of the Oireachtas this year. The purpose of this dissolution is to provide space for the LDA to build housing in the city centre. The location is second to none. It is right in the middle of town and in an area that needs more housing. I will talk to the LDA about that. In fact, I visited Guinness and saw its plans for housing development and regeneration, which are more advanced than the LDA’s plans, on the other side of Thomas Street. There will be a lot of housing in the Guinness complex in the future.
Senator Dooley asked whether there should be a universal service obligation for broadband. Senator Carrigy pointed out that he himself is a postmaster. There is a postmaster as well in the Dáil. He has unique experience of the post offices and acknowledges that the money that will be provided through this Act will help with the sustainability of post offices. A number of Senators asked how we can provide more services to the post office network to make it a more sustainable network. We can provide more government services through it. I notice that the post office can do two things very well. It can identify people, that is, authenticate people’s identity, and handle cash transactions in and out. They are not suitable venues for getting involved in complex dealings with the State that require a long time, such as 20 or 30 minutes to go through. However, if someone needs to prove his or her identity, renew an identity card of some type or make a payment to or receive a payment from the State, they are ideal for that. That is where the future of more services are. An Post offers a wide range of services. It is an innovative company overall. In general, it is offering a lot. What has happened a lot with the post office development is that they are colocating in larger shops and managing to provide a more sustainable model that way.
I welcome Sinn Féin's support for the Bill. Senator Boylan mentioned an interesting issue, which is the risk of not being able to contact the emergency services during a power outage. One of the great aspects of copper telephone lines is that they provide a tiny bit of electricity that is enough to make a phone call when the power goes down. The telephone company was always very proud that it continued to work when everything else was broken. If we are not careful, we will lose that with fibre. We are heading towards a point, which is the copper switch-off. It will be hard to justify providing a copper connection and a fibre connection to every house in the country. Copper will have to go for economic and environmental reasons eventually . However, there has to be a way to still contact the emergency services or make a phone call at the time someone needs to. When a trial of copper switch-off was carried out in the UK, there was a prolonged power cut in the area where they tried it and there was difficulty reaching the emergency services. That has to be borne in mind. Another issue to bear in mind is that optical fibre does not require an electric current. The light is put in one end and it comes out the other. It is not a powered infrastructure. There needs to be some type of power to process the light in every home, and that will require a battery. The question is how to manage that. It is certainly a challenge. We will not rush into disconnecting people from vital services. Many things that perhaps people do not think of, such as emergency buttons that people have around their neck, rely on a copper connection to make the connection at the end. In addition, elevators, cash registers and all kinds of things run on copper at the moment.
Senator Boylan also asked the ramifications for local businesses if they are asked to remove equipment from their network at short notice. She made the point that they should not face a cliff edge and be put into an unfair situation. I see where she is coming from on that and we will be careful in the application of this legislation.
On the high-risk vendors, can the Minister of State comment on the I made a point on the definition of the vendor rather than the activity?
The other 19 countries that have legislated for this have had to use terminology of one kind or another. For example, Austria and Cyprus use the phrase “high-risk supplier”; in Czech Republic, it is “evaluation of trustworthiness”; in Estonia, it is “high-risk”; the Dutch went for “untrusted suppliers”; and the Slovenians went for “high-risk vendors”. They are variations on a theme. I am willing to consider amending the legislation. I was not planning to amend the legislation but I am willing to consider amending it with a different name. I will look at that. I am not promising to come back with an amendment on it, but I will consider amending it on Committee Stage.
Question put and agreed to.
When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?
Next Tuesday.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Committee Stage ordered for Tuesday, 14 February 2023.
I propose a suspension until 6.15 p.m.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 6 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 6.20 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 6 p.m. and resumed at 6.20 p.m.