Members of an Oireachtas committee examining the telecommunications sector have welcomed the decision by the director of Telecommuncations Regulation, Ms Etain Doyle, to attend its hearings, after refusing to do so last week.

Mr Austin Currie TD said yesterday that the Joint Committee on Public Enterprise and Transport could not have properly carried out its function without her presence. Mr Emmet Stagg TD said the committee had been correct to take a strong stand last Tuesday after Ms Doyle said she had to recognise the integrity of her office "in the context of the director's duties in the regulation of multi-channel television". Mr Stagg added that he had tabled a resolution in both houses to bring the Compelability of Witnesses Act into force. Ms Doyle was unavailable for comment yesterday.