What Eire is thinking (19 November 1998) It was all rather vague about the Eire 'flat-rate tariff' affair until this week, when two things happened. First, Telecom Eireann finally issued a press release (18 November) which gives more details. It looks as though there is going to be a range of metered and unmetered tariffs, together with affordable ADSL, in the next few months. Wired adds some commentary. I have emailed TE to try to find out exactly what the phrase This will take the form of a flat monthly rate for a fixed volume of Internet access means; there has been much speculation about what 'fixed volume' refers to in an absence of facts. Secondly, the Eire Advisory Committee on Telecommunications issued their one and only report (Acrobat format). But what a report! It reads like some sort of Utopian ramble (starting with flat-rate access, a privatised local loop and cheap broadband access, but going far beyond telecommunications issues) except that it is being taken on board by the Eire government. Of course there will be compromises on implementation, but the unthinkable has been thought. Although the report is 300KB it is almost a mandatory download; the Spanish campaigners say, half in jest, that it should be learned by heart.