After letting the former semi state Telco Eircom perpetrate a savage and damaging Denial of Internet Service Attack on all of us for five long years, the new Minister for Communications Dermot Ahern managed to surprise the public.
In his speech at the TIF Annual Telecommunications Conference in Dublin on Thursday, 24th October, 2002, he not only admitted that Ireland was "trailing behind Europe, the US and the Far East in terms of [telecommunications] policy and infrastructure," and that "Ireland’s Internet penetration was just 30% in homes", but announced that real action would start immediately, beginning with giving a directive to the new Regulator to regulate for the introduction of flatrate Internet access.

With all the fuss now about the ringing in of a new era for Internet usage in Ireland, we should not forget to give credit where credit is due. Our Taoiseach Bertie may have had little time for the Internet issue with pub openings and other important business, but there was a hidden ingenuity in his government’s Internet policy, which seldom gets the public praise it deserves.

We have prepared a nice thank-you card to assist expressing our gratitude.

Use your printer and send the card to:
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
Government Buildings
Upper Merrion Street
Dublin 2

Preview of the Word/pdf download: