Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 29 Sep 1999

Vol. 508 No. 1

Written Answers. - National E-Commerce Initiative.

Ivan Yates

Ceist:

222 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the reason it is proposed to exclude Counties Offaly, Monaghan, Cavan, Louth and Wicklow in the proposed investment in broadband infrastructure under the national e-commerce initiative; if this will be reconsidered and these counties included; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17417/99]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke):

The Deputy is aware that the provision of broadband infrastructure is primarily a matter for operators in the newly liberalised telecommunications market. Recognising that in certain regions of the country, competition alone will not provide the required broadband telecommunications infrastructural investment, I engaged a consortium of consultants led by Norcontel (Ireland) Ltd. to manage three calls for projects supporting the development of advanced communications networks and services which might be co-funded by INTERREG and European Regional Development Fund European Union funding.

The successful projects from the first and second calls were announced on 5 July 1999, with 23 million euros of EU moneys leveraging a further 32 million euros of private sector investment. This investment will result in the provision of approximately 1,000 kilometres of information age infrastructure to over 120 towns around the country.

A third call for 1.143 million euros of EU co-funding closed on 16 August 1999 and is currently being evaluated. It is intended to announce the result of this call in early October 1999. All of these projects are required to be completed by 31 December 2000.

Following on from these initiatives my Department in association with Forfás is currently preparing telecommunications investment proposals for the next National Development Plan. The needs of all regions of the country will be considered in this review.