Vol. 529 No. 3
90 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the amount of funding being made available for communications infrastructure, such as broad band facilities, in County Cork arising from her recent announcement of £75 million funding for such projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2815/01]
The provision of telecommunications infrastructure and services is a matter in the first instance for the companies which now operate in a fully liberalised market. My responsibility is for public policy in the sector within which these companies operate. The widest possible availability of competitive services has traditionally been an important objective of Irish telecommunications policy. I have, in recent years, put in place a number of initiatives which seek to address gaps in communications infrastructure in Ireland, particularly those in rural areas.
Under the National Development Plan 1994-1999, IR£21 million was made available to support the roll-out of telecommunications infrastructure to the regions. This figure has been significantly increased under the National Development Plan, 2000-2006, to IR£147 million. This funding will be utilised to leverage and accelerate investment in competitive advanced telecommunications infrastructure and services in the regions.
The first call for proposals under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 closed on 22 September 2000. The Department received 28 applications for funding under this call. These were assessed and evaluated at arms length by independent consultants. I recently announced the successful 13 projects that will receive a total of IR£59 million in national development plan aid.
Eight of the successful projects involve the development of infrastructure in County Cork (project reference numbers DPE2000-03, DPE2000-04, DPE2000-07, DPE2000-08, DPE2000-15, DPE2000-16, DPE2000-22 and DPE2000-26). Details of all these successful projects are attached.
My Department is now reviewing future infrastructure investment needs in the light of the results of this first call for proposals.
|
Company |
Project |
Project Reference |
Project Cost (IR£million) |
NDP aid (IR£million) |
|
Esat Telecom |
Wireless Local Loop for Broadband Services |
DPE2000-07 |
2.2 |
0.9 |
|
ESBI |
National Fibre Optic Network |
DPE2000-16 |
38.8 |
13.1 |
|
Esat Telecom |
Accelerated xDSL |
DPE2000-08 |
19.8 |
8.0 |
|
Chorus |
Border Midlands West Broadband Corridor |
DPE2000-05 |
14.0 |
4.6 |
|
Esat Telecom |
South West Cork Digital Link |
DPE2000-15 |
5.2 |
2.1 |
|
Crossan Cable |
Broadband Infrastructure – Longford |
DPE2000-23 |
0.6 |
0.2 |
|
Chorus |
South East Broadband Communications Corridor |
DPE2000-04 |
39.6 |
10.8 |
|
Chorus |
Kerry Broadband Communications Corridor |
DPE2000-03 |
3.6 |
1.5 |
|
Formus |
Border Midlands West Broadband Wireless Access Infrastructure |
DPE2000-21 |
3.7 |
1.5 |
|
Formus |
South East and Mid East Broadband Wireless Access Infrastructure |
DPE2000-20 |
3.5 |
1.4 |
|
Nevada Telecom |
Regional e-Commerce hubs |
DPE2000-06 |
8.6 |
3.4 |
|
Formus |
South West and Mid WestBroadband Wireless Access Infrastructure |
DPE2000-22 |
4.5 |
1.8 |
|
eircom* |
Broadband transmission and ADSL |
DPE2000-26 |
28.9 |
9.8 |
