Paul Kehoe
Ceist:116 Mr. Kehoe asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the counties or towns which have no plans for the roll-out of broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26383/03]
Other Questions. - Electronic Communications Infrastructure.
An indicative amount of €200 million was set aside under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 for telecommunications infrastructure projects. Following the report of the interdepartmental working group on telecommunications in March 2002, the Government gave the go-ahead for the construction of 19 metropolitan area networks, MANs, in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Dungarvan, Clonmel, Athlone, Mullingar, Portlaoise, Tullamore, Roscommon, Ballina, Letterkenny, Carrick-on-Shannon, Manorhamilton and Gaoth Dobhair.
We all probably have the list.
The MANs programme, which is phase 1 of the regional broadband programme, is being supported by €64 million in Government and EU funding. Subsequent phases of the programme will be contingent on the success of phase 1. Other projects being funded under this measure include the roll-out of digital subscriber lines, DSLs, by both Eircom and Esat BT, which have upgraded a number of telephone exchanges nationwide during the past year. Details of the services provided by these companies are available on their websites, www.eircom.ie and www.esat.ieIn addition to these developments, a number of telecommunications service providers are already marketing broadband services to all areas, using wireless and satellite-based technologies. A full list of service providers is available from the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.
This week I signed regulations permitting ComReg to issue 59 additional licences for wireless broadband throughout the State. My Department has also funded wireless LAN and powerline trials to boost platform competition.
Like most Ministers, Deputy Dermot Ahern avoids the question. I asked the Minister the counties and towns which have no plans for the roll-out of broadband. I could have got out the list in my office stating the towns which have broadband and which he has announced, perhaps 40 times, will get it. Since he mentioned it, the Government has a disastrous history on broadband. The Minister has been in Government for the past six to seven years and when one compares Ireland with other countries, we are lagging way behind. What percentage of schools, both primary and secondary, are linked up to broadband? It is important for the education of our young people that schools have broadband.
Is the Minister aware of any major industry wanting to come to any county or town in Ireland which did not come because there was no roll-out of broadband in the area concerned? The Government is discriminating against rural towns and some counties by not having put in place the roll-out of broadband already.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
The Deputy has exceeded the one minute available to him.
The Deputy is misleading the House. It is an open market. It is a liberalised market. It is not up to the Government to provide broadband here, there and everywhere.
Why?
It is up to the Government to ensure that there is competition in the market and that is why we are funding the MANs projects, that is phase 1. Phases 2 and 3 will include up to 132 towns over a period.
Eircom and Esat have also been funded very significantly by the taxpayer to roll out digital subscriber lines. DSL roll-out in Ireland has only started in the recent past and it is wrong to compare this with what has happened over recent years. On the current figures for DSL in Ireland, the rate of increase, albeit from a very low base, is the highest in Europe by far – there was a 600% increase in the numbers taking broadband from July 2002 to July 2003, which coincides with my period in office. On those areas which are not enabled with DSL and may not ultimately be enabled with broadband, they will be able to get broadband ultimately through other technologies such as the powerline which is in trials and through wireless LAN, which works successfully and to which I am connected.
Is Deputy Kehoe connected to that?
Between all the technologies, I assure Deputy Kehoe that if his town or area is not included, it will be included in due course because of opening competition.
During the next Government.
I wish to ask a brief supplementary question—
Deputy Broughan did not even know what they are until I mentioned it.
—on an area which one would expect would have the best broadband connection in Ireland, that is, the digital hub. Would the Minister be surprised if I told him that an IT company which attempted to relocate in the digital hub only last week could not do so because it could not get a broadband link?
That is not correct.
It is the case.
I would love to see the evidence—
I will give the Minister the detail.
—because €2.9 million has been spent—
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
A brief reply, please.
—by my Department putting fibre optic cable into the digital hub—
That is the point I am making.
—and it is already in place. I would love to see the evidence.
It is a problem of service provision.
There is some other reason.
I will provide the evidence. It is the management of the hub.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
Deputy Broughan has a short supplementary question.
The Minister is always saying the supply side of broadband roll-out is out of his hands and he can do very little about it. Surely the Government, that is, the Taoiseach and the Minister, can do a lot about the demand side. Is the Minister disappointed, for example, that on most of the 2005 targets for e-Government, Ireland seems to be hopelessly behind the UK? For instance, what is happening to the public service broker contract, the Reach programme? If we do not come up with killer uses and impacts for this, how will we have demand for broadband?
May I ask the Minister one question?
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
Deputy Ryan has a brief question.
What is the number of schools involved, the percentage?
We in the committee of which the Minister is so critical received 40 presentations on this issue. What arose there increasingly was that it is in no way clear how the Minister will connect the 19 MANs, either to the existing inter-urban infrastructure or to the local area network, LAN. The result is that the ESRI, and indeed a number of the people who made presentations to the committee, state that this is a field of dreams and it was not a good investment. How does the Minister answer that? How will he provide the connectivity which will give the competition?
To answer Deputy Ryan, I vehemently disagree with the analysis of the ESRI, and I make no bones about that. In my view, they have no vision on the roll-out of broadband around the country. What, in effect, they are saying is that it should be left to the private sector. The reality, as the private sector would admit, is that they will not go into the peripheral areas. It will mean that many companies which might want to set up in rural areas will not be able to do so and will go into the towns where there is broadband.
What is the Minister's vision?
I totally reject the analysis in that respect and make no apology.
The Minister should tell us his vision.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
A final brief supplementary question from Deputy Kehoe.
I am surprised at Deputy Broughan parroting, in effect, what is now the refuge of many private companies, some – not all – of which are not investing in broadband demand stimulus where they say that when times are bad it is up to the Government and the taxpayer to provide a panacea for all our ills.
How is the Minister proposing to do it?
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
The Chair has called Deputy Kehoe for a final supplementary question.
What is the percentage for schools and is the Minister aware of any major industry wanting to come to Ireland?
I will answer the Deputy's question on the percentage of schools.
Will the Minister answer the question on industry? I asked two questions. Is he aware of any industry wanting to come to Ireland which did not come because there was no roll-out?
No, I am not. I am glad Deputy Kehoe reminded me of that question. When you go to Cahirciveen—
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
The Chair is calling Question No. 117.
—you will see FEXCO, a company that is there because of balanced regional development, and broadband was put in specifically for FEXCO to go into Cahirciveen.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
The Chair has called Question No. 117.
I asked a question and did not receive an answer.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
Order, please.
I asked a question and I should be—
I am trying to answer but the Deputy will not let me do so.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
The Chair has called Question No. 117. Deputy Kehoe should resume his seat.
What is the percentage?
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle:
The Deputy does not have the floor.