Paper tigers
26 January 2007 11:19 pm
The government apparently refers to it as 'the ComReg Bill'. When passed, the Electronic Communications Miscellaneous Provisions Bill is supposed to give greater powers to the telecoms regulator.
Hopefully that includes enough muscle to open up access to telephone landlines, the vast majority of which are still under Eircom's control.
But why is this Bill being brought in now? Sure there's a general election on the way but that's not the only reason.
It's also much safer now that Tony O'Reilly's Valentia consortium has departed from the board of Eircom. With a huge wodge of Ireland's national and local newspapers owned by O'Reilly's Independent News and Media, the government doesn't have to worry about a backlash.
You don't play chicken with someone who buys ink by the barrel.