In considering these applications has the Minister studied to what extent the commercial success of an enterprise which I recall he suggested could cost as much as £300 million to put in place——

It was the Deputy who suggested £300 million.

I think the Minister suggested £300 per household and he was talking about a coverage that would have included well over half of the households in the country. Therefore the amount involved would certainly be £200 million. To what extent is the commercial success of this enterprise dependent on a very high percentage take-up of the population to the offer of this service?

Obviously it is hoped that there would be tremendous interest in securing the widest possible level of choice. This has been evident in those urban areas that have been easily cabled. There has been a very high take-up in those areas. What we want to do now is to remove the barriers between urban and rural Ireland and to provide opportunities for people in rural Ireland to have the multi-channel choice. As the Deputy is well aware, it is the system to be used for the transmission of the national independent television service and I have no doubt that the people of Ireland will want to receive that as soon as possible. I have no doubt that there will be a very high take-up in the areas. It is a matter for the commercial operators to encourage people and to pitch their licence fees at a level which will be attractive to the people.