The Government is endangering investment by dragging its heels on the national roll-out of affordable broadband services, a Dáil committee warned today.
Members of the Oireachtas Communications Committee accused the Government and the Communications Minister of ignoring a previous report on a lack of hi-tech infrastructure that was eroding Ireland's economic competitiveness.
Chairman of the all-party body Noel O'Flynn said Ireland had dropped from the top of the league of Information Communication Technology economies to the lowest in Europe.
"This is unsustainable and the Government must address the issues as a matter of the gravest urgency," he said.
Committee members warned that the provision of affordable broadband was a key economic factor in Ireland becoming and maintaining a knowledge-based economy. "The Government must accept that this is a key policy issue and that it requires its full and concentrated attention," the committee's sixth report said today.
The committee said it was disappointed that no action has been taken on the 12 recommendations published in its March 2004 report, the biggest-ever public debate on the broadband issue.
The study called for a Minister of State with cross-departmental responsibility for broadband, and for closer co-operation between the Government, the telecoms industry and end-users.
Every new development must be broadband-proofed, and all national, regional, county and city plans must incorporate the infrastructure, it added.
Chairman Noel O'Flynn said the neither Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey nor his department had discussed the report with the committee. "Sadly I have to say that in the two years since that launch, almost no account has been taken of the recommendations contained in that committee report," he said.
"It is safe to conclude that progress has been almost non-existent and where there has been progress it has been in spite of rather than due to proactive management and policies by the stakeholders."