IrelandOffline meets the Minister for Public Enterprise.

LegacyUser

IrelandOffline meets the Minister for Public Enterprise.

Report on meeting between IrelandOffline and Mary O'Rourke, Minister for Public Enterprise.

9th June 2001

Attendance from IrelandOffline: Martin Harran, Justin Mason, David Long.


1. We explained to the Minister the origins and the objectives of IrelandOffline. When we told her the name of the organisation she did remark that it was an apt name considering the current situation. She asked each of us to explain our background, how we came together and how the current situation was affecting us.

2. She was very interested in what we were telling her and said that she was delighted to meet a cross-section of ordinary Internet users, and hear their views. She recognised that large businesses were well represented and catered for, but agreed with us that the ordinary user did not have a chance to make their voice heard.

3. At this stage we presented her with a cross section of the user comments submitted on our web site. She found these to be both interesting and informative.

4. The Minister expressed the view that we should meet with the ODTR as a priority. To that end, she will immediately arrange through her office, for us to meet the ODTR.

5. In preparation for this she will arrange early next week for us to meet the Assistant Secretary to the Department of Public Enterprise, so that we can brief him fully on our objectives.

6. Following the meeting with the ODTR she herself wants to meet with us again to review our progress.

7. The Minister emphasised that in many areas Ireland is at the leading edge in terms of infrastructure. She did accept however that currently there is very little real benefit coming from this for the type of users represented by IrelandOffline.

8. The Minister also stated that the government had met its responsibilities in terms of putting the necessary legislation in place but she recognised that the agreed timetable for implementation had not been met.

9. The Minister reminded us that she is due to review the legislation covering the relationship between the ODTR and the government this Autumn. We pointed out that OFTEL, the UK equivalent to the ODTR, has a formal structure for meeting consumer representatives on a regular basis. We asked if such representation could be put in place here. She liked this idea, and said that she will consider it when reviewing the legislation.

Summary:
This meeting was arranged at very short notice, but we believe that it was extremely useful. The Minister was genuinely interested in what we had to say and is keen for the voice of the "ordinary user" to be heard. We look forward to our meeting with the ODTR.

LegacyUser

Great job folks. I must say that you folks are really putting irelandoffline on the map. Keep it up and my full support is still and always be with the committee.

dahamsta

Lovely job and well done. Just a few points to add:

o The Department for Public Enterprise appears to be one of the more active departments when it comes to telecommunications. FYI, I've just returned a Telecommunications Survey to Mason Communications, who were doing it on their behalf, and it was quite comprehensive. Needless to say, I was quite verbose in the comments section.

o With regard to "regular" and "ordinary" Internet users, I would like to point out that the current problems affect SME's very badly too. And I'm not just referring to myself (a VSE in the Internet trade!), but other businesses I deal with, that could be much more streamlined with flat-rate internet access.

o With regard to Oftel, you should be aware that Oftel will shortly be disbanded and replaced by Ofcom, a new regulatory authority with a wider range of powers. It's quite likely that this is happening because of Oftel's ongoing inability to regulate BT effectively. Just an FYI that one.

Finally, in case someone from the DoPE will be taking a poke around here on Monday, I would like to thank the Minister and the Department for taking an interest and meeting with IrelandOffline. To get back to business though, I would like to reiterate that small businesses in Ireland are being left behind, just like the users.

adam

LegacyUser

Wow! Well done. I hope this gets major press.

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by dahamsta:
With regard to "regular" and "ordinary" Internet users, I would like to point out that the current problems affect SME's very badly too. </font>

Report of meeting is obviously only a summary.

We described ourselves as representing self employed, small businesses, home users and students. Our individual backgrounds seemed to make an impact on her - Justin as teleworker with IT company, David as student, me as self employed consultant. She used the expression "ordinary users" as opposed to big companies who, in her words, "are well able to look after themselves".

I also gave her a real life example of a small retail business I am currently dealing with, who want to expand and would like to use the internet for a simple stock control system where branches can check each other's stock. They wouldn't need broadband, unmetered would be fine - she related to this right away.

Martin



[This message has been edited by o_donnel_abu (edited 10-06-2001).]

LegacyUser

Great job,
I really appreciate the work being done by the group on my behalf, and on the silent majorities behalf.
Please keep it up.

Bard

Well done guys- I've added the report to the News section of the irelandoffline.com website.

I hope, as has been said already, that this gets sufficient coverage in the press. Have releases been sent to the papers?

---

Bard

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"Have a gorilla!" ... "No thanks, I'll have one of my monkeys, they're milder."

dahamsta

Thanks for clarifying that Martin, I'm delighted to hear such a wide range of users was represented.

Cheers,
adam

Bard

http://www.scaryeire.com/www.irelandoffline.com/News090601.asp by the way...

LegacyUser

Well done guys, keep up the good work!

LegacyUser

badly needed campaign
keep up the good work