Accepting Eir’s offer to deliver the National Broadband Plan at a cut price would be illegal, top officials in the Department of Communications have claimed.

Facebook and other social media giants could be hit with fines “large enough to hit the profit of the company” for breaching online safety guidelines, the Taoiseach has warned.

The chairman of the Oireachtas communications committee is demanding proper telephone services for isolated rural communities.

Peter Erskine, chief executive of O2 Ireland's parent company, MmO2, has refuted claims Irish mobile phone prices are a "rip off".