Consumer advocate comes in from the left corner

Noel Dempsey is rolling up his sleeves to tackle broadband and the post, writes Emmet Oliver

As the Taoiseach sat down to reshuffle his ministerial cards in late September, writers were gearing up to write the political obituary of Noel Dempsey, then Minister for Education.

While words like "maverick" and "idealist" might have been sprinkled throughout those obituaries by his critics, Mr Dempsey, unlike Séamus Brennan, was not dispatched to one of the farther-flung outposts of the Cabinet.

Mr Dempsey's highly publicised campaign to reintroduce third-level fees made him plenty of enemies but, ironically, it may also have shored up his position.

The lurch to the left, led by the Taoiseach himself, has left Mr Dempsey in good stead politically, and he is now looking forward to reforming State-owned companies such as An Post, ESB and RTÉ, and rolling out broadband infrastructure.

His left-leaning instincts were a central part of his make-up in the Department of Education. One wonders how these instincts will manifest themselves in his new ministerial home.

The Minister emphasises that getting a better deal for consumers and making State-owned companies more responsive is his new mission. With broadband penetration disgracefully low by international standards, and industrial relations problems looming at An Post and potentially the ESB, it is a tall order.

In his first two months as Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, problems have not been slow to show themselves. An Post is in serious financial difficulty, according to its chief executive, Mr Donal Curtin.

Mr Dempsey says everyone involved needs to avoid complacency. "I don't know if people - and I'm including everyone in this - realise the urgency of the situation. Look at SDS and how fast everything changed in that whole area in two or three years because of liberalisation.

"Suddenly you had major courier and logistics companies from around the world here. Within two years, literally the whole thing had changed.

"When we get to 2009, when everything is liberalised, letter post and everything else, things are going to change fast there. So unless we have a top-quality, efficient and customer-friendly service in An Post, it is just going to be wiped out," he warns.

He appears frustrated at the way An Post seems to miss out on alternative revenue streams.

"We have a lower than average letter post per person ratio in the EU. So there is something wrong there. Everyone talks about email, and there is a displacement factor in that - but if you look at the other side of the internet, you and I can go on Amazon.com, do our thing and get our books. But the books have to be sent to us. [ An Post] could get huge benefits.

"In addition to that, take FedEx and all these big logistics companies - they don't have the one thing An Post has and that's a network throughout the country. They've got people delivering, they've got people calling to people every day of the week.

"We talk about the last mile in the broadband area, but what about the last mile in the postal services? An Post has something others would die for," he says.

But he fears mutual distrust might undermine all this. "There is an awful lot of opportunity there. But the difficulty there - on both sides - is they have become bogged down. And part of the reason for that is past histories.

"But look, you cannot live in past histories. They need to lift their heads a little bit more."

He has his own blunt assessment of why An Post is suffering financially. "The quality of service, I have to say, according to the figures I have seen here, is not what it should be. You can argue whether the ComReg figures are right or not, but either way they are bad.

"The best guide to this, and it's not scientific in any way, is what I hear from colleagues, on all sides of the House, of letters not arriving for three or four or five days and so on."

He says An Post could learn from its counterparts in the ESB. "The ESB has to provide electricity to everyone, whether it's on the Aran Islands or wherever else it is. They are managing to do that, to fight off competition, making a profit and investing in their network.

"If we are going to treat An Post as a social service, I reckon by 2010 we won't have an An Post or a postal service here. We won't have to worry about it. It's as simple as that. People have to get it into their head that the customer is king. We have to provide the service that is going to make the customer say: 'This the outfit I want to do my business with'."

Some of his comments are likely to annoy certain people in An Post but Mr Dempsey is unapologetic. "In case anyone wants to accuse me, my grandfather was a postman so I just know a little bit more about it."

While an admirer of the ESB and chief executive Pádraig McManus, the Minister is not prepared to write that company a blank cheque either. "The issue of ESB dominance in the market has to be dealt with. There is a certain truth in the argument about 'we must stay together and we will be stronger and we will be able to do this, that and the other'.

"But when you have such a large share of the market you set the prices and everything else. You are in a position, and I'm not saying they are doing this, but you can keep the opposition out and fix prices at such a level that it makes it unattractive for others to get into the market.

"From the point of view of the consumer, it is not good just to have one very dominant player in the market." But he says there are no plans in Government for the privatisation of the ESB.

In words likely to disappoint powerful ESB unions, Mr Dempsey says extra shares in the firm for workers are not on.

"They have 4.9 per cent already. The only way they can get any more than that is simply if there is a transaction. If the Government is selling it or privatising it or whatever else - and that is not planned," he insists.

On broadband, Mr Dempsey says he wants 400,000 broadband users by the end of 2006. "I have put that as a minimum target. I have challenged the industry, in fact, to go 100,000 better than that, to beat that. I think they can do that." He says private industry has not responded the way it should on broadband, and getting this precious infrastructure to small towns and villages has required a different approach.

"We have the large towns and cities being adequately dealt with, all right. They are obviously not completed or anything like that, but we want everywhere, villages and rural areas, to benefit as well. So that is why we rolled out the group broadband scheme."

He is considering devolving the marketing of broadband to the local authorities.

Mr Dempsey is more than happy with RTÉ's progress over recent years. He anticipates that the company will turn in a surplus of €4-€5 million this year, and may even soon start putting aside reserves for the future.

"I have always had a very strong view on the necessity to have a good public broadcast service. I don't think we can afford to undermine RTÉ.

"The way it's all going at the moment, where you can get hundreds of channels, probably thousands on digital and so on, I think there is a necessity for something that is essentially, uniquely Irish - that serves the public good, that focuses on Ireland."

Mr Dempsey is also appreciative of Sky's investment in the Republic via Sky News Ireland.

"Sky is showing every sign it wants to be part of the Irish market," he says. "It wants to put something in, not just take something out."

Factfile

Name: Noel Dempsey

Position: Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources

Age: 51

Hobbies: Golf, reading and watching sports of all kinds

Career: Was Minister for Education and Science, June 2002 to September 2004; Minister for the Environment and Local Government, June 1997 to June 2002); Chief Whip, 1992 to 1994

Education: Scoil Naomh Bride, Boardsmill; St Michael's CBS, Trim; BA and Diploma Career Guidance, UCD. HDip in Education and Diploma in Youth Leadership from St Patrick's College, Maynooth

Why he is in the news: Moved to his new post two months ago. First newspaper interview in his new job