email to td's

drrnwbb

a while ago in here someone mentioned a list of email address's to a lot of td's etc... so i got it and about ten days ago i emailed them (about 160 altogether)....

here is that email:

Good Afternoon,

I am writing in connection with internet access charges in Ireland. I am an internet user and I am paying exorbitant fees for a service that is available throughout most of the developed world (and semi developed world) for a fraction of the cost. In Ireland we pay per minute... (5cents apx during the day and 1cent per minute evening and weekends) whereas most other countries pay a fee per month, regardless of connection time. This is known as "flat rate" access and here you can see some sample prices from throughout Europe and America

Finland............................... euro 45
United States of America..... euro 35 (average)
United Kingdom.................. euro 33
Poland............................... euro 35
Ireland .............................. euro 1328 (not a typing error!)

Irelands figure represents a continuous access to the internet for one month.

As you can see these figures show that Irelands competitiveness is being undermined by high internet charges. Every office in the State and every Governmental Department uses the internet and is becoming more and more reliant upon it for information and for email access. As well as the large amount of consumers who spend time on the internet talking to friends and family throughout the world.

I would hope that you would be able to put some pressure on the organisations who control these costs, notably eircom. Also a reply outlining your opinions on this matter would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

so i sent off the email on a saturday and i got back about 35 "undeliverables" etc (hehe.. they included mary o rourke and mary harney)

anyway over the last ten days ive recieved seven replies... im not sure what the party breakdown is, although im pretty sure all are opposition (i may be wrong)

the best by far was from olivia mitchell td who talked about constant nagging from her son over irelands internet costs. she had a proper grasp of the facts, she talked about the esat access to the exchange in limerick and finished up with:


The critical driver for improvements and for giving more power to the regulator is the long promised Communications Bill. This was originally to have been published in mid 2001 and I will certainly be pushing to have this at least published prior to the election. If we are serious about being the hub of Europe, and according to my son this was just a joke, we will completely miss the boat unless this legislation is introduced and passed with all speed.


gerry reynolds td will table a question in the dáil apparently. anyway i was generally happy with the response.

hehe.. expect things to happen in august/september.. that when i plan to get the hell outta this country... anyway.....

later

dw

dahamsta

Well done drrnwbb, good stuff!

adam

Fergus

Well done indeed! Somebody get Olivia Mitchell's son in the Lobbying WG

gandalf

drrnwbb I got an almost identical reply from Olivia Mitchell via snail mail. The one ominous thing in her letter was the fact that regulators office seemed to have said that Flat rate was uneconomical.

Though they did say that in many other countries flat rate access is proving to be uneconomic.

Out of the other 12 letters I sent I have had 4 replies.

Tom Kitt (Minister for Labour, Trade & Consumer affairs) and he passed my query onto Noel Treacy (Minister for Science Technology & Commerce) - no reply since then - 7th Jan

John Gormley of the Greens - They are in the process of completing their comms strategy. He has promised to send me a copy when its ready (within a month). He did agree that "Ireland has enormous problems in the area of broadband and it could have very detrimental effects on our ability to compete internationally".

Mary O'Rourke - A 2 line letter promising to get back to me asap. Took her nearly 3 weeks to send that (well the civil servent).

Ruairi Quinn - A very long letter agreeing with what I said in my letter. He went on about the fact TE were replaced with a Duopoly ?? Saying the state no longer had direct control. Most importantly he said that Labour recognise the limitations surrounding the ODTR and the powers that regulation have under existing legislation. He also included a copy of labours draft E-governance document which he said addressed some of my concerns. It actually was a very unspecific document and I will be sending him a very long reply looking for definate details.

I will be sending a 2nd letter to those 8 others who haven't replied yet asking them why they didn't reply.

Gandalf.

drrnwbb

monica barnes td: I've brought it to the attention of my colleague and Fine Gael spokesman on Public Enterprise Deputy Jim Higgins. Jim is going to bring the high cost of internet access in Ireland to the attention of Minister Mary O'Rourke

joe higgins td Thank you for your e- mail concerning the high internet access charges in Ireland. I agree with you that there should be universal flat rate access to the internet for all users. I have tabled a question to the Minister for Public Enterprise asking her what measures are being taken to ensure both flat rate
access and universal access to broadband services for all users in view of the negligible progress that has been made towards complete "local loop unbundling" by Eircom

richard burton td I shall take this up with the Telecoms regulator and the Minister for Public Enterprise

alan dukes td (funnily enough from bernie grogan's account!) Thank you for your recent e.mail, which I have passed on to our Spokesperson on Public Enterprise, Mr Jim Higgins TD, for his attention

jan o sullivan td: Thank you for your recent email and for raising the matter of excessive costs of internet access in Ireland. I do agree that we are being overcharged in this country and this needs to be addressed. I am forwarding your correspondence to our Party Spokesperson on Communications, Deputy Brian O'Shea, to have the issue highlighted and addressed, perhaps through the Dail Committee, which deals with communication matters, of which Brian is a member. I will get back to you when I get a reply.

and olivia mitchells reply as per my previous post: (extract) Thank you for your email regaring the cost of internet acces in Ireland I was very interested in what you had to say as my son who is a computer science graduate is constantly telling me how far behind Ireland has fallen in telecommunications technology. Also since receiving your email it seems every paper and magazine I pick up has some group or another making precisely the same points

hehe.. i presume her comment "some group or other" might refer to ioffl

dw

dahamsta

The one ominous thing in her letter was the fact that regulators office seemed to have said that Flat rate was uneconomical.

C'mon Fergus, strut your stuff... <adam cues fergus>

Ruairi Quinn - A very long letter agreeing with what I said in my letter. He went on about the fact TE were replaced with a Duopoly ??

I'm not sure if you don't understand, or it was some odd character that freaked vB out, but in case it's the latter (or someone else doesn't understand), in essense he's saying that the privatising of Eircom should have resulted in a free, competitive market, whereas instead we ended up with just two large companies - Eircom and Esat - controlling the market and keeping prices inflated. It's true to a degree, but it's a gross oversimplification.

adam

Manic

Hey this is GREAT! I thought i was the only idiot (no offence ment) that sent emails to TD's. I only sent 6 but as yet i still have no replies. But i am delighted to see i am not the only one doing it. Way to go ye guys If i dont get a reply withen the next week or soo i will just lenghten it and email it again

gandalf

Originally posted by dahamsta

I'm not sure if you don't understand, or it was some odd character that freaked vB out, but in case it's the latter (or someone else doesn't understand), in essense he's saying that the privatising of Eircom should have resulted in a free, competitive market, whereas instead we ended up with just two large companies - Eircom and Esat - controlling the market and keeping prices inflated. It's true to a degree, but it's a gross oversimplification.

adam [/B]

Err Duopoly me ar$e, forgive my french. Its actually a monopoly, Eircom control the lines and thats it. Hence the ??, I understood exactly what Ruairi was trying to say I was just disagreeing

Gandalf.

Manic

Jim is going to bring the high cost of internet access in Ireland to the attention of Minister Mary O'Rourke

You can be sure that the minister is fully aware of the situitation. I was not the only one to send her an in depth email. But does the minister actually read the emails herself ? How much of what is said in them actually gets through directly to her ? or is sending her an email just a waste of time ? I honestly don't know but i do know one thing. I am going to keep trying

Manic

Duopoly / Monopoly ? All means the same thing. Eircom have control. Eircom is like a Warewolf that prays on US, and the only reason they are not dead by now is becouse the Silver Bullet that can kill them is smothered in €'s and kept in a Brown Envelope.:mad:

Ruu_Old

If everyone sends a few emails a day, its sure to get some sort of attention :cool: well done ppl

Fergus

Originally posted by dahamsta
The one ominous thing in her letter was the fact that regulators office seemed to have said that Flat rate was uneconomical.

C'mon Fergus, strut your stuff... <adam cues fergus>
[/B]

Some excerpts from the rwg page..

"Realistically a well managed ISP can sustain a £14.99 PM service" ISP Review

"BT Internet customers have enjoyed unmetered surfing since February [2000], and we have no intention of taking that away. In each case, people are paying a fair price for a good unmetered deal." "unmetered Internet access is entirely possible if you have a business model based in the real world." British Telecom, August 2000

"Oftel’s preliminary conclusion is that BT should be required to provide single tandem FRIACO" OFTEL independent expert group on flat rate feasibility, Nov 2000

Meh

Originally posted by Manic
But does the minister actually read the emails herself ? How much of what is said in them actually gets through directly to her ? or is sending her an email just a waste of time ? I honestly don't know but i do know one thing. I am going to keep trying

You can be damn sure that O'Rourke doesn't read your emails herself. She has some administrative assistant type person reading them and writing replies. But that's not to say it's a wasted effort -- I doubt her office gets this many emails on any other subject. The number of emails is bound to be reported to her, and it'll at least show her how urgent the problem is.

gandalf

Well she has now got 2 letters from me as Seamus Brennen has forwarded my letter to her office as well according to the reply I received from him yesterday.

Gandalf.