The Government's record on broadband rollout is "unsustainable" and needs to be addressed as a matter of the "gravest urgency", according to an Oireachtas committee report to be published today.
Legislation establishing the communications regulator ComReg is "deficient" and "without bite" and needs increased powers to ensure the "properly managed regulatory environment" to facilitate broadband supply, the report says.
The third broadband report of the Joint Committee on Communications is highly critical of the two main Government policy responses to broadband rollout - the MANs (Metropolitan Area Networks) project, and the Group Broadband Scheme, which was designed to benefit rural communities.
It says they have not been focused on the crucial issue - the short-term delivery of universal, low-cost, accessible broadband.
The committee chairman, Fianna Fáil TD Noel O'Flynn, says in the report that it gave him and fellow members "no satisfaction" to reflect on how Ireland has fallen to near the bottom of the EU league in terms of broadband delivery.
According to the report, the MANs project has not delivered what the public has demanded - "ubiquitous, low-cost broadband". MANs are the high-speed fibre-optic rings that link businesses to telecoms operators' equipment.
The report, seen by The Irish Times, says the Group Broadband Scheme is taking too long to deliver broadband connectivity to communities that have to rely on the incumbent fixed-line operator for connection.
The committee calls for closer co-operation between the Government, the telecoms industry and the end users of broadband services to address the immediate demand. It says short-term policies are all that are required to get Ireland to the top of the broadband league.
It also calls for a publicly funded programme, run as an open tender, to provide nationwide broadband access. "This can be by way of any platform including fixed-line, mobile wireless, whatever method or combination of methods is available".
The committee "notes" the change in ownership of Eircom and detects a "change in attitude" in regard to broadband rollout. However, it adds that it considers it "as yet too early to pass judgment as to sustainability of this change".