Irish consumers would be able to access high-speed Internet services cheaply within three years, following a €300 million State investment in infrastructure proposed by Fianna Fáil yesterday.
"Keeping Ireland at the Cutting Edge", a new Fianna Fáil policy document on the IT sector, also proposes to make all public services available online by 2005 and support its Digital Hub project.
This project, which is based in the Liberties, acts as a hub for digital media firms to locate near the high-tech research institute, Media Lab Europe, an arm of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, dismissed suggestions that the Government had lost interest in its flagship Digital Hub technology venture, which last year had its budget cut substantially to about €130 million.
There has been a worldwide downturn in the technology industry since the Digital Hub was announced, Ms O'Rourke said. "It is a consolidation of its position."
She also criticised the lack of specific policy proposals from Labour and Fine Gael for the technology sector, and said they had failed to provide any projections or costings on their policies.
Mr Jim Higgins, Fine Gael's public enterprise spokesman, said Ms O'Rourke's proposals to provide high-speed Internet services would not benefit the average users or small businesses.
He said the Minister's failure to introduce flat-rate Internet charges, as was introduced in other European states, would mean that broadband would continue to be charged on a prohibitive and costly per-minute basis.
Fianna Fáil also pledged to establish a national digital terrestrial television service if it was in the next government, following its failure to launch a service during its current term.
The Government's plan to establish a digital television service, which would offer people up to 50 new television channels and Internet services, has been delayed for almost two years. A competition to award a licence received just one application from a firm which has not been able to secure financial backing for its proposed service.
And a similar British service, ITV Digital, went out of business earlier this week facing huge debts, following its failure to sign up enough subscribers to reach profit.
But, Ms O'Rourke said yesterday, there would be a commitment to set up a digital television service when the "economic dust had settled".