The Government may shelve a proposed Bill to create a new commission to regulate communications because of a glut of other legislation before the Oireachtas.

The Communications Bill is not listed in the autumn legislative programme and is unlikely to be enacted before a general election, informed sources said yesterday. The proposed Bill would give a new three-person commission greater power to force Eircom to open its network to greater competition.

The telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, has consistently voiced concern over a lack of penalty powers available to her office to force telecoms firms to comply with its directives.

The proposed Bill would enable a new commission to fine a telecoms operator up to 10 per cent of its revenue if it failed to comply with a directive.

The existing Office of Telecommunications Regulation is currently being sued by Eircom over two separate directives which would enable its competitors to use its network to offer services.

The Communications Bill would also bring regulation under the supervision of the Oireachtas. Although Ms Doyle has voluntarily appeared before several Oireachtas committees, under current legislation, she is not legally required to attend.

A Department of Public Enterprise spokesman told The Irish Times last night the Bill would be published in December.

He said the Minister hoped to get it included in the legislative programme after Christmas. However, he admitted it was a tight legislative frame in the period up until Easter.

Several telecoms firms criticised the lack of progress on the Bill yesterday. "It seems the Government does not see the development of effective competition as a vote winner," said Mr David Taylor, director of regulatory affairs at Esat.

Mr Les Harris, chief executive of Nevada tele.com, said the lack of clarity in regulation meant obfuscation and slow progress in telecoms, which was bad for the Irish economy.

A decision not to bring the Communications Bill to the Oireachtas before Easter would be the second legislative setback for the Government in the telecoms arena. Last year it withdrew a proposed telecoms infrastructure bill which would have laid out a more co-ordinated approach to laying cables.

The Infrastructure Bill was approved in March 2000 and subsequently withdrawn because of concerns about giving telecoms operators greater rights to access private land.

Some parts of this Bill were expected to be written into the Communications Bill.