Telecom Eireann's announcement of cuts estimated to be worth £145 million in telephone bills was welcomed by the Minister for Public Enterprise.

Ms O'Rourke said calls to the US would be cut by 21 per cent, and those to the UK by 15 per cent.

"The cuts involve significant reductions in call costs to the United States and the UK. It is part of the continuing downward pressure on prices in the telecommunications sector which has seen business and the consumer winning."

She had little doubt, she added, that the deregulation of the market and the subsequent competitive environment which now existed had contributed significantly to the price cuts. Ms O'Rourke was introducing a motion, passed by the House, relating to two separate disposals of State-owned shares in Telecom Eireann, the sale and transfer of a 14.9 per cent shareholding under the employee share ownership plan (ESOP) and the sale of a further tranche of shares on the forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) of the company.

She said that over the past few years, the focus of Government policy towards the telecommunications sector had centred on the need to introduce strong and effective competition, as this was the best way to ensure that consumers, both business and residential, enjoyed the benefits of the full range of high quality services at competitive prices.

"This is already being achieved, and the decision last year to fully open the market to competition, coupled with the transparent and equitable regulatory regime which now exists, will further accelerate the momentum of this process."