Hello Seamus Brennan


Irelands roads are drowning in traffic. Irelands Kyoto commitment is seriously in danger with our emissions rising way above the agreed levels. And the money has become sparse. You have a serious task ahead.

There is one intelligent way to help. It does not cost the government anything - to the contrary. Here it is:

Your predecessor's policy of letting the former semi state and still de facto monopoly Telco EIRCOM sabotage the development of the Internet in Ireland for short term and shortsighted profiteering, has brought Irelands Internet usage down to the level of third world countries. With Internet access prices in multiples of that of other countries the Irish citizen is simply priced out of using the net. That is a catastrophe in many ways.

In one way it has a detrimental effect concerning your portfolio: While teleworking is developing fast all around us it had and still has no chance in Ireland..
With Internet access costs of under € 20 for one month modem or ISDN and around € 30 for broadband ADSL ( compared to € 750 for modem access and twice that for ISDN and practically no ADSL [and where it is available at well over € 100] in Ireland) teleworking is a real option for many companies outside of Ireland.

Just imagine the effect on traffic – in terms of congestion and in terms of emission – the arrival of teleworking in this country would have.

Don't even think about grant aid to encourage teleworking. Don't ask commissions or advisors how to do it.

One simple cost free measure will do it: Regulate for affordable Internet access costs, at least as cheap as those in Northern Ireland.

All the other European countries were able to do it – we have not really to wait until the European Commission has to save us from our own incompetence.

One side effect of having low Internet access costs, as the rest of the developed countries have, will be a substantial cost saving for the government's and related bodies’ Internet access costs.


We think you should have a serious word with your ministerial colleague, who is now responsible for the telecommunication sector.

It would be a real win win situation. For the government, for the citizens, for our environment, for our competitiveness, for job creation and even for EIRCOM – they might even be able to change into a healthy company.