A special provision for a public-private partnership investment in broadband connectivity is expected in the Budget.

According to the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs O'Rourke, the details of a joint investment involving the State, through the IDA and the Department of Public Enterprise, and private telecoms operators will be finalised within the next three weeks.

The investment will lead to the provision of an international broadband telecommunications pipe by one of a number of global telecoms carriers, yet to by selected by the Government.

"I'm anticipating there will be a budget allocation towards the public-private provision of broadband connectivity," Mrs O'Rourke told the The Irish Times after addressing an electronic commerce conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in UCD. There has been no provision made for such an investment in the Department's current budget estimates, and it will seek approval from the Department of Finance for a specific allocation in the Budget.

The joint venture will be one of the recommendations published today in the Government's Telecoms Advisory Committee's first report.

Mrs O'Rourke also warned against regulating electronic commerce too heavily, citing the US example where much of the regulation is based on standards of good practice. She suggested the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) or the Small Firms Association (SFA) as potentially suitable monitoring bodies.

"Electronic commerce should be as lightly and loosely regulated as possible, otherwise the world will go by and we will still find ourselves tied up in regulations," said Mrs O'Rourke. She added that current concerns about privacy and security of Internet transactions would "balance out" once electronic commerce was widely adopted.

Also speaking at the conference, Mr Jim Mongey of Enterprise Ireland urged Irish businesses, particularly those facing international competition to adopt email immediately and establish websites within the next 12 months.