Dempsey rejects criticism over broadband availability

Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey yesterday publicly rejected, for the second time in a month, the findings of the backbench parliamentary committee that monitors his department.

The Oireachtas Committee on Communications yesterday implicitly criticised Minister Dempsey’s department when launching a report criticising the availability of high-speed broadband internet access in Ireland. It came a month after the minister and the Fianna Fáil-dominated committee clashed over fisheries legislation.

Launching the report, the committee’s Fianna Fáil chairman, Noel O’Flynn, expressed disappointment at the slow pace of roll-out of the service.