 I'm Tisha. We'd welcome now if you could address us. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dennis. Ladies and gentlemen, it's a privilege to be here at your ninth conference of the UN Broadcasting Commission. That short video gives you a little impression of the personality of this country and of its people. Actually, if you saw the Queen of England, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, signing the register of distinguished visitors, that was the first visit by a royal in 100 years to Ireland. Those of you who will know anything of our history will know that as a country colonised for 700 years, this country achieved its independence in the early years of the last, second last century. Resulted in a civil war with great difficulties for our own people and with 30 years of serious trouble from the late 1960s, right through the 70s and the 80s, eventually the terrorist activities and the war, as it was called, was brought to an end by negotiation and discussion called the Good Friday Agreement. And as a consequence of that, Queen Elizabeth was able to make a state visit here to the country, as I said, the first in 100 years. That visit is being replicated or responded to formally by the President of Ireland visiting Great Britain in the next number of weeks on the first formal state visit as well. I think it shows you the extent of connection of Ireland. 50 years ago last year, the late President Kennedy came here in June of 1963, which was the last international visit before he was assassinated in Dallas. Last year, his daughter and members of their extended family came to Ireland for the 50th anniversary of that visit and re-established the connection for the next generation because the younger members of the Kennedy family spoke at different locations of connection to the family and have reignited a continuum of the Irish American connection. President Obama himself, on one side of his family, has direct Irish connections and received his certificate of Irish heritage in the White House last year when I had the privilege of giving him that. But as an example, when President Kennedy came here, he presented to the Parliament of Ireland and the people of Ireland a flag of the Fighting 69th Regiment in the American Civil War, which was a banner created by the wives of the soldiers who fought in that regiment. That regiment was commanded by one Thomas Francis Mahur, who was deported from Ireland to Van Diemen's land, which is Tasmania, escaped from there and went to Australia, made his way to Montana, where he became the governor of Montana and eventually ended up as the general in charge of the Fighting 69th. He was also the person who designed the Irish tricolor, which is a flag of green, white and orange. The significance of that is that the green stands for the nationalist tendencies, the orange stands for the descendants and the supporters over the centuries of William of Orange, which was part of the great battles in this country, and the white is for the peace between the two. And that's what we stand for. So I'm glad, Dennis, that you've brought such distinguished guests to our country and next time I hope they can break out and move around from Dublin no more than America in New York is not the United States. And it's always important that you get an understanding of the people that we are. I'm sure Dennis O'Brien has explained to you that, due to our history and the great famine that we had here in the 1840s in subsequent years, that the humanitarian issue in our psyche is very strong. And on a proportionate basis, there is no more generous people than the Irish throughout the world. And as President Clinton remarked on a number of occasions, this is the one country they can legitimately say that, since the UN was founded somewhere on the planet every day since then, there are Irish people involved rather in peacekeeping missions or humanitarian issues. And whether it be Haiti or whether it be whether it be Mali or whether it be the Philippines or wherever, because of our own understanding of how important these things are, we're in there. This broadband commission is something that really excites me in the sense that there are experts around this table here who have in their hands the capacity and the potential to liberate people in so many ways by the capacity of technology now. We've only got four and a half million people here, as the little video showed you. We have 70 million worldwide. And for the first time ever, we're now able to connect all of those together digitally. I was in Seattle last year at an Irish American business function, and all of the people who attended are able to listen to their local radio stations from Ireland. They were actually more acquainted with local news than I was myself because they have time to listen to it. And the advent of instant connection without any physical connecting wires is something that is so new to people. When you look at places like Myanmar and these where you go from zero penetration to full connectivity in such a short time, the impact on culture and tradition and history and people's lives will bring enormous shockwaves with us in the context of just how many people are there. There's not much the potential there is. So your commission deals with issues of connection and liberation, also of privacy, new sense of democracy, if you like, and possibility, and accountability. Clearly these are issues that affect us all. I've looked at your agenda. Dennis, I think it must have been quite riveting to be here to hear some of these contributions and look at the significant developments that have taken place in countries where one might not have thought that would be possible in such a short time. We as a government support the objectives of the commission in recognising the importance of broadband in the international policy area. Why wouldn't we? It's in our interest as an island nation. I know that you've been driving not only dialogue but also actions to make broadband more affordable and more available, particularly in poorer countries. I see the documentaries on African women, African farmers able to contact their local markets about prices. All of these things are so revolutionary in a democratic sense being developed by what comes from your commission. The five targets that you've set, I'm happy to see that they're being monitored and tracked in terms of their roll-out. Clearly this commission has personnel working for people on it with the knowledge and expertise to make this happen and that includes industry executives, government leaders, policy pioneers, together with organisations working in the area of social and economic development. Obviously that leaves you very well placed to define and to find practical ways to expand broadband access in every country. The demands and the possibilities of the digital era transcend national communication mechanisms, national structures and national boundaries. At a European level, the European Council, which is the leaders of the 28 countries, we have removed physical barriers from country to country in terms of crossing borders and yet you still have digital borders that we have to remove also to make the digital market and the digital union one to bring about that real potential. So if you like, the local becomes global and global becomes local and for those of you who will understand that here in Ireland last year we had a digital conference where 10,000 creators turned up, innovators, thinkers, imaginative people and they know that when they get the app right or whatever and touch the button that it's gone global institution. That's the real revolution of talking to these young people who are creating that future, who are speaking the language behind the curve and when I go to schools and see the voluntary movement around this country in what we call code or dojo, people writing the code that makes things happen. Children as young as 7, 8 or 13 years are thinking ahead of that curve and are changing the frontiers that lie up ahead of us week by week. So the excitement of what lies ahead is as yet unknown and where it's going to be in 6 months or 6 years or 10 years, nobody can actually find out. Well, maybe Dennis O'Brien knows something about that, I'm not sure. Every country is obviously keen to build you know real quality infrastructure not only in the foundation of the service of the industry and therefore jobs, but about competition and investment. Countries like Sweden and South Korea are benchmarks for technology and for infrastructure. It's very noticeable that countries that are less well developed can actually leapfrog by deploying the most advanced technology in the market without having to concern themselves with the existing or the legacy systems and the infrastructure and that's what's happening. So getting it right really is the big challenge for the UN broadband commission and that challenge extends well beyond the infrastructure to the changing nature of commerce and trade, data collection, data storage, data protection, consumer protection and as a consequence even taxation. We've had all the discussions about corporation tax rates. Clearly in Ireland we have a set rate based in statute law but multinationals will use different jurisdictions and the legislative world has not moved at pace with the digital world. That's why the OECD are now looking at an international response to an international issue, an international question. So you also walk increasingly these days and in this world an increasingly difficult line between information and defamation. The balance of freedom of speech and the right to privacy is always an issue with people that's very contentious. It is a sad but unavoidable fact that there is an anonymous savagery out there that stalks the areas of the social media that can sometimes be anything but social. Not lone insults or threats of rape or death or harm the families with those whom we might disagree. It's one where there's a particular on us on parents to know whether children and teens hang out when they're on the web. As parents it's just as important to know where children are, who they're with and what they're doing as it is to know who they're meeting and talking to in the social media at their disposal so freely. So we are seeing new developments here in tackling child pornography and child exploitation. I suppose more positively the digital era brings rapid communication and news and information around the world in real time. I looked at the pictures from the cockpit of the Australian planes looking for the whereabouts if possible of the Malaysian 777. This is real connection all over the world for people who have an interest in any particular issue. So here in Ireland, as Dennis pointed out to you, we've got our own national broadband plan and a national digital strategy. We recognise that broadband availability is not only critical for business growth and development but impacts positively on so many other facets of modern life and commerce. Talking to the woman the other day who's retired housewife, she makes arrangements for two doctors appointments, one in Tokyo and one in New York, from her home in the west because of the capacity of the digital world. So quality broadband is absolutely crucial to sustainable development in rural and regional areas. We've got a problem here in Ireland. Many of our provincial parts and rural parts are still not anything to where they should be. That means that those who are writers or those who want to live in different parts of the country are still not able to do their business to the extent and stage that we would like. So we've serious plans to change all that. I note your report on the special session of the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development, where you stress the vital importance of countries sharing their experience of developing and implementing national broadband plans. I think that's really good. Obviously we plan to guarantee high speed broadband to all citizens and all businesses. We want to do that in two ways. Firstly, by providing both a policy and a regulatory framework which accelerates and incentivises commercial investment. Secondly, by state led investment for areas of the country where it's not commercial in the market to invest. Now, as we were sitting here, there are a number of proposals to bring further connection across the Atlantic from the state's latency in banking terms is so important in terms of instantaneous connection. But because of particular problems over the years in this country, there's never been transatlantic cables of the digital nature coming into the country directly. We've ironed that out and there are a number of propositions to speed it up, which if the land on the west coast or the south coast would actually enable us to light up the entire country to the highest level. Infrastructure is one thing. Increasing the levels of digital adoption in the economy and society is another. This is an issue for us. That's why the National Digital Strategy was published in 2013. It's got three priorities. One, getting more businesses trading online. Five billion euro worth of business done online in this country. The vast majority of that comes in from outside. It might be good for post offices, but when you explain to people the potential of their own creative capacity to sell abroad is where you need to be. Example, I called in 10 or 12 businesses recently to government buildings to discuss this. Some who were started, some who were out for a while, some who were experienced. One woman, boutique, women's clothing, going well, went online, sell internationally, first orders from Singapore and the Far East. What a good quality European clothing for particular people. So here is an opportunity for people to understand that potential is what it is. But for many of them, because they struggle in economic challenges to keep their business very much alive, they don't have the time to promote in the way that they would like the websites, so we need backup systems for that. Website managers to say, here's who we need to keep this business moving. Also, the digital classroom. We're the best demographics of any country in Europe for the next 25 years. We pride ourselves on our education system, which is not perfect, but it's able to measure up. Because of the structure of our education system, it's very important for people that they have access to this quality. So most secondary schools are now up to speed with broadband, but it also means that the nature of teaching and instruction has to change completely. A young student now can draw down mountains of information literally about any subject of the net. The role of the teacher, the educator, the lecturer has got to change in being a councillor, a guide or a sifter through what is important in terms of information, so that where talent is identified that it can be allowed to flourish. In that sense, it means that if you've got a seriously capable young person in mathematics or physics or whatever it might be, but because of the structure of the curriculum and the numbers that don't have sufficient teachers to teach them, that's where the online connection can be for students who have the capacity to take really complex courses. And we support that seriously. And getting more citizens online. I met a man recently and he raised a subject with me and I said, James, where did you come across this information? Oh, he said I googled it up and he's 92. So it just shows you that the complexity, they don't have to understand how it works so long as it does work. And the point is that lifelong learning is a concept that's been alive in the Far East for very many years. It's something that's sort of new to our newer, should I say, to Western countries. And it's an issue that we've tended in Western countries to forget about and that people, when they reached retirement age, retired and faded away, that shouldn't be because you should never lose experience or wise counsel or that kind of potential. And it's all there through the digital world. So that's done in terms of the secondary school system. So they're the three areas that we want to do with that. Might I just say in response to what Dennis said to you, we've come through a pretty catastrophic period here where the country went over the edge because of an allegiance to property development only. Because the tools were not available at a European Union level to assist a country like Ireland, our population was required to borrow 64 billion and attempt to pay it back. So this has been a real challenge for people with negative equity, mortgage distress, unemployment, emigration. And it's taken some real courage from people to actually put in place a plan and a strategy and a process to move the country out of that. I'm glad to say that we were the first Eurozone country to emerge from an IMF EU bailout programme last December. We did so without any precautionary credit line. That, if you like, was reflected in the market sentiment towards Ireland subsequently when the first offering of moneys was oversubscribed by more than you would get in a precautionary credit line anyway. Just one statistic. In mid June 2011, interest rates for Ireland blocked out of the markets were 15%. Last Monday, a fortnight on a 10-year offering, there were 2.9%, which shows you the objectivity of market sentiment towards a country where they recognise that serious progress is being made. It's also interesting that out of the 60,000 new jobs that were created last year, 40 per cent of those came from companies that are less than five years old, many of them in the areas where you're working. That shows you in its own way the initiative and the interest and the capacity of young minds to change that future. In a taxation sense and in a budget sense, we've had to reflect the importance of small and medium enterprises, which are the backbone of every society, to be able to move forward. As we exited the programme, people said, what's the next step? Where are we going now? Simultaneously, we published a medium-term economic strategy for 2 per cent growth this year, 2.5 next year, 3 per cent the year after, have our deficit below 3 per cent by 2015, have it eliminated by 2018 and get back to what you call full employment. In other words, the restoration of all the jobs that were last during the period by 2020. Investment in the country is very strong, exports out of the country are very strong, right across America last week. These were discussions with business interests and investors in the country here. In that sense, as I said, you'll find Irish people from the cleaner to the president of the chief executive in most countries in the world. I was at the European Council meeting last week and clearly the Crimea in Ukraine was an issue that dominated proceedings there with potential for real upset and real unrest. We were just reflecting that in the Crimean war in 1850s, 30,000 Irish men lost their lives in the Crimean war. It was interesting that one of the delegation that was on the OSCE monitoring delegation, which was not allowed in to Sebastopol, was an Irish man again. Only 50 years after that, this is the centenary of the commencement of the Great War, the war to end all wars. 50,000 men, a million slaughtered in the Somme, another million slaughtered in Flanders and all of these. It's all part of our understanding of why we should help other countries and you've been doing this in Haiti and other places. That's part of our understanding of the importance of the Millennium Development Goals, which is also a target of the commission here. The post 2015 developing framework gives us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right. From that point of view, it allows us to eradicate extreme poverty and ensure that people all over the planet have an opportunity to have a decent standard of living. I was at the GAs in Fremanna in Northern Ireland last year. Ireland is not a member of the GAs, but I was invited because we had the Presidency of the European Union by Prime Minister Cameron. During our presidency, we achieved quite a significant element of technical issues put across the line, including, I might say, the mandate to get discussions underway between Europe and the United States in terms of what they call the T-TIP arrangements for free trade with the potential for millions of jobs on the side of the Atlantic and the capacity to set down regulations for world trade for the next 50 years. But there were African leaders at the GAs summit. It's a pity that it wasn't actually televised live. It was far from the sort of perception that you get of just nonsensical talk going on at these meetings. It was quite riveting, in fact. Quite a number of African leaders spoke about the democratisation of their countries, which are vast in extent, the extent of corruption, the extent of the rape of the soil and the extraction of minerals for no return for so many local communities. As for President Obama, actually, who said, well, look, one thing that we could do in response to these measures are to give them the capacity to communicate, but also give them the opportunity to have real legal advice and tax advice from experienced people who would see that contracts that are drawn up wherever actually give a real return to the communities and the tribes in the different countries. It's well recognised, from a European point of view, that with the population of Africa likely to double in the next 20 years, that if even 10% of young males would have decided to emigrate to Europe, no country could withstand the pressure of that. In my view, here's an example of a continent that will explode democratically and economically in the next 20 years. The Broadband Commission and the Millennium Development Goals are so important and achievable. So, in many ways, what you're doing is really a humanitarian issue of giving a voice to the voiceless of giving opportunity through the broadband business. So, it's a possibility that we will explore, that we will maximise if we dare to imagine what those young people said to me last year here in Ireland that we've got to think about whether outside the box would be on the curve. I'm always fascinated by the concept of infinity. I looked at the documentaries and the information about the big bang theories to where this universe came from and they were speaking of the explosion and the expansion of the universe in a trillionth of a trillionth of a second. And now they tell me that our cosmos is only one of thousands. So, when Voyager left the solar system with its 36-year-old technology, before it left, they turned around to take one shot and it did, and in that massive square of darkness there's one little blue pixel which is where you are. So, in that scale of infinity, we have the capacity to make an impact. And arising from the loss or the disappearance of the aircraft from Malaysia, I was astounded actually, and you know more about this than I do, that less than 10% of the world's surface is radarised, if you like, where they have real analysis of what's happening. And yet, you can have a GPS locator for every square centimetre of soil on the planet. So, I support what you're doing with the Broadband Commission. I support the development goals. I fully admire your five major targets and it's a privilege to be here. I welcome you to Ireland and hope that you can come back again. We are gregarious, curious, inquisitive people, and the trick is, if you come here for a week, you won't want to go home at all. Thank you.