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Seanad Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 1 Apr 2014

Adjournment Matters

Schools Amalgamation

I welcome the Minister. This is a very important issue in my area, Greenhills-Limekiln, involving the proposed amalgamation of three schools into one. The schools in question are St. Peter's boys' national school, St. Paul's junior girls' national school and St. Paul's senior girls' national school. There is a lack of information on the ground about the proposed amalgamation. Nobody, including the parents, seems to know anything it. I contacted the Department of Education and Skills about the matter in recent weeks and while I appreciated the response, it gave me no further information. A considerable number of concerned parents want me to express their views and see if I can obtain any further information.

The archdiocese has been in touch with the three school principals to inform them about this issue. The Minister informed me in writing that while his Department was aware of the patron's proposals - the proposal has not come from the Department of Education and Skills - it had not received any proposal. I do not know if the Minister can provide further clarification.

Will the Minister of State inform me when he receives the exact proposals? I raised this matter with him a short time ago, perhaps two or three weeks ago. He previously told me that any proposals on the amalgamation must involve consultation with the relevant stakeholders, parents and so on. There has been no consultation as yet.

Will the Minister of State outline the process of consultation, who initiates it, and whether the Department of Education and Skills has a role, if it is not initiated on the ground, to ensure all the parties are consulted? Many parents have expressed concerned about the process of consultation. I have not encountered much negativity to the proposal as a whole. Not everyone would be against it, as many parents would like the choice of a co-educational school. They express the desire for parental choice and involvement, rather than a dictatorial announcement. The lack of consultation and the haste of the decision really frustrated people. Many people, including myself, had asked that the amalgamation be postponed because of the lack of information.

An issue that was brought to my attention was with regard to the autistic spectrum disorder special class in St. Peter's boys' national school. Parents wondered if this special class would be retained with the same facilities in the proposed new school. The HSE Beechpark service gives a very good service in providing the school with clinical support in the area of psychology, behaviour management and speech and language. The girls' schools do not have a similar special class. Parents want to ensure all of the existing services will be retained and are anxious to learn what additional facilities will come on stream when the boys' and girls' schools are amalgamated. Will the Minister of State please comment on this point when responding to the questions?

What is the timeframe for the commencement and the procedure for the amalgamation? Is there a process for consultation with all the parents? Will the current facilities and building be used to accommodate the amalgamation? Will individual classes be amalgamated? The boys' national school is amalgamating with the girls' junior and senior national schools. Some parents welcome co-education but others may not. Will parents have a choice of single-sex education? Will a costing of the proposal be available from the Department of Education and Skills and will there be a comparison with the current cost of funding three schools? When will a project team be appointed to oversee the amalgamation? What will happen to the redundant school building when the amalgamated school is in operation? Will the redundant school building be available for educational purposes in the area? One of the schools has a parents' room, and the parents really want to ensure that such a facility will be available in the amalgamated school.

I have asked a great many questions which I am prepared to put in writing if the Minister does not have all the answers for me this evening.

I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to clarify the current position on the proposed merger of St. Peter's boys' national school and St. Paul's girls' junior and senior primary schools.

I advise the Senator that the initiative for any amalgamation may come from a variety of sources such as parents, staff, board of management and patron or patrons of each school. Any such proposal to amalgamate schools must involve consultation with all of the relevant stakeholders. Following the consultation process, a decision taken at local level will follow. Let me stress that the decision will be taken at local level. In that regard, any proposed changes must be well planned and managed in a manner that accommodates the interests of students, parents, teachers and local communities and contributes to an inclusive education system.

Every amalgamation case needs to be considered by all involved on its individual merits. In many cases, there will be a strong case for progressing with an amalgamation. For example, in the case of very small schools with decreasing numbers, parents and the local school community may themselves see benefits in amalgamation opportunities. In areas of mature population where enrolment numbers are decreasing over time and school buildings are not being utilised to full capacity, or where there is separate single-sex provision and a local parental preference for co-educational arrangements, there can also be strong merit in such proposals. Equally, it has to be recognised that there can be significant sensitivities involved. These are best addressed through a process of local-level dialogue and consultation aimed at ensuring any proposal meets the interests of the communities concerned.

The decision-making authority for the amalgamation of any school is the patron of the school concerned and the decision is then subject to the final approval of the Minister for Education and Skills. In that regard, I advise the Senator that while my Department is aware of the patron's proposals to merge the three schools concerned, to date the Department has received no proposal from the patron or trustees in the matter. On receipt of any such proposal, the Department will consider the matter, taking into account factors including the current provision and the future demand for primary school places in the Greenhills-Limekiln area, the future use of any buildings and any capital funding implications. It is not necessarily the case with all amalgamation proposals that capital investment would be needed to support amalgamation. However, each case is assessed on an individual basis to determine the extent and type of accommodation required, taking into account the condition of buildings, site capacity, etc. My Department would also generally advise the patron and any relevant stakeholders to check out their position with the relevant sections of my Department in relation to the implications of any amalgamation for school funding, school staffing and school transport in order that an informed decision can be made about any amalgamation proposal.

The Senator raised the issue of the significant additional special needs services provided by HSE. One assumes that in any amalgamation the special needs provision would be continued on the basis that the needs arise from within the community and would consequently have to be accommodated in the process of amalgamation.

I again thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to clarify the current position on amalgamations and the proposed amalgamation of St. Peter's boys' national school, St. Paul's junior girls' national school and St. Paul's senior girls' national school.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and acknowledge that he has no information. The Department of Education and Skills, not the patron, is responsible for education. As the Minister of State stated, the initiative of amalgamation can come from many sources. There has been no consultation on the ground. As I am trying to facilitate the process of consultation, I would like to be guided on who should initiate and facilitate the consultation. Will the Minister of State come back to me with a response on that issue? Perhaps he might make himself available when all the bodies in the community come together. I understand a new principal will be appointed in one of the schools. I rang the office of the Archdiocese of Dublin to elicit information and found it open. The person with whom I spoke told me what he or she knew. It is important for the community that consultation is initiated to get the process off the ground. I have not mentioned the role of the teachers who are a very important element in the process of amalgamation. Their needs have to be taken into consideration also.

The Senator is well aware that each school is an independent autonomous entity, managed by a board of management, primarily appointed by the patron and representatives drawn from within the school community. The process of consultation must be initiated by the boards of management of each respective school. One expects that when the consultation process begins there will be ample opportunity for parents, teachers and members of the wider community to have a role in determining the shape of the process of amalgamation. Once the significant process of consultation has been completed and a firm proposal is ready to be submitted to the Department of Education and Skills, the Department has a role in the amalgamation process. It must be the decision of the community and the respective boards of management as to how the proposed amalgamation will take place. It would be premature for the Department to be involved because the significant process of consultation has not taken place.

Obesity Strategy

We have a problem with obesity. There has been significant research that shows that if children up to the age of 12 years are obese the likelihood of being obese into adulthood ranges from 80% to 90%. We all know the health implications and challenges that presents to the health service. I understand that based on this research the Government is planning to produce a task force report on the measures to be taken by it to reduce the incidence of obesity.

Many thousands volunteer with sports organisation that engage children in sports activities.

Many teachers and parents take children at weekends, evenings and so on. While there is engagement at that level we need a coherent strategy and a coherent plan. I believe something will be published this year, but what is the timeline and at what stage is it? When is it likely that an announcement will be made? I would welcome any insight into what is being proposed.

I am happy to take this debate on behalf of the Minister for Health and thank the Senator for raising this very important issue.

Senators will be very aware of the worrying trend that 61% of adults in Ireland and one in four children are overweight or obese. Reliable contemporary and locally relevant figures show that the annual economic cost of weight-related ill health in adults is €1.1 billion. As people who are overweight and obese are a public health priority, the special action group on obesity, SAGO, was established by the Minister for Health. SAGO has progressed many actions such as, for example, the healthy eating guidelines, the report on recommendations to reduce consumption of high fat, salt and sugar foods and drinks from the top shelf of the food pyramid, calories on menus initiative, obesity treatment algorithms for those in primary care health services and a three year childhood obesity campaign.

The current phase of the childhood obesity campaign which is being run in partnership between Heathy Ireland, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, safefood and the HSE launched yesterday and urges parents to "bring back play" and encourage children to be more active every day. It suggests parents make practical changes to everyday lifestyle habits which would make a big difference to their children's future health. The campaign also reminds parents about the negative health impacts of excess weight in childhood and how this can impact on a child's quality of life. Healthy Ireland, the Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-25 contains a commitment to develop a national physical activity plan. The health and well-being programme in the Department of Health and the Department of Transport. Tourism and Sport are co-chairing a working group comprising representatives of a range of stakeholders with an interest and an expertise in physical activity to develop the plan.

Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for death worldwide and is a key risk factor for non-communicable diseases, NCD, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes. There is significant evidence that physical activity promotes well-being in physical and mental health, prevents disease, improves quality of life and has economic, social and cultural benefits. It is a concern that the majority of Irish people do not meet the levels of physical activity indicated in the existing national physical activity guidelines. The national plan in development will provide a strong focus for modifying unhealthy life habits and promoting awareness of the benefits of physical activity to both physical and mental health for all ages.

There are many organisations and individuals already working to promote physical activity. The attention is, therefore, focused on operational issues aimed at encouraging greater participation in, and greater recognition of, the importance of, physical activity. It is intended that the plan will be finalised as soon as possible. A comprehensive, multi-level approach is required to address the obesity epidemic and to raise the levels of physical activity in the country and the work of SAGO in conjunction with Healthy Ireland is ongoing in this regard.

Senators may also wish to note that an EU action plan to tackle childhood obesity was recently launched. This was a success story from the Irish Presidency. To facilitate implementation of the action plan an EU-wide joint action will commence in January 2015 with Ireland leading on "The cost of Childhood Obesity in Europe". It is clear that addressing issues of overweight and obesity in children will help in developing generations of children who can lead healthier, happier lives.

I thank the Minister of State for a positive and appropriate response. Recently I heard a story about a school - I am not sure which one - where after each class students were taken out to do two laps of the school and, apparently, productivity has increased dramatically. That is one simple example of a school being proactive in terms of physical activity. I am on the board of directors of the CARA Centre in IT Tralee. It is developing techniques for physical activity for people with disabilities. Its work is groundbreaking and perhaps at some stage the Minister might have the opportunity to visit the facility and speak with the team. It works on a shoestring budget. It has been so successful that people are coming from all over the world to view its adapted physical activity programme. It is extraordinary. It achievements in a small institute in Tralee are groundbreaking internationally.

I concur with the opinions expressed by the Senator. In the past ten or 12 years we have been exceptionally careful in certain instances to suppress the opportunity for children to play in our schools because of concerns around health and safety. We need to look at models that are emerging worldwide of very structured play opportunities for children during their break times that will allow them to play and engage in significant physical activity during lunch break. I was pleased to be able to work with Ashoka Ireland in launching a pilot of an initiative emanating from the United States, entitled Playworks. The pilot scheme is up and running in a number of schools throughout the country, including in Educate Together school in Newcastle in Galway, with which Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh will be familiar. The initial reports from teachers and parents in that school are exceptionally positive. As Senator Martin Conway pointed out, children are more productive. The classroom setting immediately after engaging in physical play and physical activity is much more calm and measured and children, once they get the opportunity to express themselves during formal play time, are more amenable to learning during the formal classroom session. There is much to be learned in this area and many benefits can accrue in the future from adopting a more enlightened approach to play and to structured play in the playground.

I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills for taking the two matters on the Adjournment and the Senators for raising them.

Child Care Services Inspections

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Tá mé thar a bheith buíoch go bhfuil sí tar éis an t-am a thógáil leis an gceist seo a fhreagairt.

I welcome the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and thank her for coming in to take this issue. I raise an issue around the child care facility based in Tiernee, Lettermore, Naíolann na nOileán, which is under the auspices of Muintearas Teo. Muintearas Teo is a full subsidiary of Údarás na Gaeltachta. As I understand it, the three board members are employees of Údarás na Gaeltachta; therefore, it is fully under the control of Údarás na Gaeltachta. I understand all its programmes are State funded.

I raise this issue on foot of a report I received from the Minister's office, for which I thank her, which related to an audit conducted by Pobal in respect of the child care facility for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011. According to the report, in June Pobal visited the service operated by Muintearas to verify that the community child care subvention, CCS, programme was operating in accordance with the terms and conditions. I am informed that the facility had been visited previously in 2010 and at that time and was found to be non-compliant with CCS as it was not adhering to the approved fee policy. The report states that the service was again non-compliant as it was not adhering to the approved fee policy. On foot of this, there was an investigation visit by Pobal in October 2011 to conduct a more thorough investigation of the attendance records. It took a detailed record of the actual attendance at the service. This was compiled in order to ascertain the correct record for children registered and attending regularly. The report found that there were significant differences in the attendance patterns of the children attending the service from the attendance information submitted to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs by the service. That resulted in children attending the facility for significantly less time than had been indicated in the service's submission to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and that there were significant differences in the numbers of children attending the service from those listed in the parental returns submitted to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs by the service.

Moreover, this resulted in significantly fewer children attending the service than had been indicated in the service's submission. The investigation further concluded that the community childcare subvention, CCS, programme is not being implemented in line with the requirements of the scheme and this resulted in a financial loss to the service. To put it in a nutshell, it is fair to state the report's finding was that children were mentioned on the list who were not attending the actual service itself. Moreover, while an application was made for funding to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs via Pobal, and while €197,466 was approved in funding, after the audit was concluded it was found that the amount the service should have got in reality was €25,193. This left a sum of €124,598 to be repaid. To recap, misleading information was sent to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs or to Pobal, which was administering the funds on behalf of the Department, and on foot of this, €124,000 was received by this organisation that it is now being asked to repay. Three recommendations were made - namely, that the repayment plan of €124,000 be put in place to repay the moneys, that a written undertaking to comply with the terms and conditions of CCS in the future be made and that immediate changes be implemented to its operations to ensure future compliance. This obviously raises a number of serious issues and I wish to ascertain whether these recommendations have been complied with completely. In addition, what, if any, recommendations were made by Pobal or by the Department on whether this issue should have been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions or An Garda Síochána? This is based on the seriousness of an organisation receiving €124,598 that, according to Pobal, it should not have received, based on information that apparently was not fully truthful.

I thank the Senator. The service referred to by him is participating in the CCS programme which is implemented by my Department. The objective of the subvention programme is to make child care accessible and affordable for disadvantaged and low-income families. Targeted payments are made to support parents who qualify on the basis of their social welfare status or income profile. Those who qualify for the maximum support under the programme can have a maximum of €95 deducted from the overall weekly charge for each eligible child. The balance of the weekly charge is expected to be contributed by the parent. The subvention payment and the parental contribution are intended to meet the overall cost of providing the service. To determine the level of subvention funding to be allocated to each service, parental returns are submitted annually following the commencement of the school year. It is important to point out that as the returns provide details of the PPS number of both the qualifying parent and the child enrolled in the service, these data are available as verification. These PPS numbers are verified by the Department of Social Protection to confirm the parent's and child's eligibility. If discrepancies arise at the verification stage, the issue is brought to the attention of the services and clarification is provided. Where no discrepancies arise, payments are made that reflect the level of service of which the child is availing and the profile of the parent. Obviously, there is considerable back-and-forth communication in this regard with many services during the course of the year.

To ensure the proper implementation of the child care support programmes, Pobal which assists my Department with the implementation of the child care programmes undertakes on-site compliance visits - inspections, really - with participating services. One objective of the visits is to ensure eligible parents receive the correct cost reduction in their child care fees and that the terms and conditions that govern the child care programmes are adhered to. Pobal also provides support and guidance for the services to promote their sustainability.

As the Senator rightly stated, following a compliance visit by Pobal to the Muintearas service in 2010, the service was deemed to be non-compliant with the requirements of the subvention programme. In follow-up visits in 2011, Pobal investigated the attendance records and patterns at the service and subsequent to this, a detailed record of the actual attendance at the service was compiled to establish the correct record for children registered and regularly attending the service. When this record was checked against the information that had been returned to my Department by the service on the parental returns submitted, it was found that there was a significant discrepancy with regard to the actual profile of the children in attendance. It was clearly evident from the report that the subvention programme was not being implemented in accordance with the requirements. It was agreed, following discussions at that time in 2011 between my Department, Pobal and the management at the service, that the excess payments would have to be returned to the Department. A repayment plan was agreed whereby scheduled payments would be made to Pobal over a five year period, ending in January 2016, with the annual repayment amount being transferred to Pobal in January each year. Muintearas has been meeting the agreed timelines in the repayment plan.

In March this year, Muintearas approached Pobal to extend the period of the repayment plan to September 2016. The reason for this request is to ease the cashflow pressure on the service in the earlier months of the year and to spread the repayments more evenly over the year. Following consultation between Pobal and the Department, it has been agreed to permit this change to the repayment plan. This will see Muintearas making three equal payments each year in January, May and September to repay what it owes, as opposed to one larger annual payment in January of each year, which appears reasonable.

In response to the Senator's question on whether Muintearas is complying with the recommendations in the report, the answer is "Yes".

A key goal of my Department is to ensure that such community services remain sustainable in order that the local community has access to child care services. If issues can be dealt with, it is not the practice to refer matters to the Garda or the Director of Public Prosecutions. If, however, there were issues that it was thought warranted a Garda investigation or if there was a lack of co-operation with Pobal's actions, the matter would be looked at again. I am satisfied that Pobal's compliance activity continues to be an essential component of the operation of the child care schemes and that my Department and Pobal will continue to co-operate to ensure high standards of compliance and support the sustainability of services, especially community services.

I appreciate both the Minister's comprehensive response and its clarity. This is an extremely serious issue, as I am sure the Minister will agree. A service essentially applied for €197,000 on foot of information that was incorrect and was found to be so by Pobal when it conducted its audit. I appreciate that a repayment plan is in place, which I believe raises other questions for the board of Muintearas and even for Údarás na Gaeltachta as to where the money that was paid to Muintearas went - and how is it paying it back, if all of its funding is, in fact, State funding for the project. This is an issue for another day.

On the legal issue, I asked someone who has a legal background to consider this matter on my behalf and that person thinks it is extremely serious in its nature. The person concerned even stated that it appears there was deception for the purposes of causing a loss to the Exchequer, which could be an offence under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. That is the reason I raised the issue of legality and the normal role of the auditor in this regard. Are auditors conducting an audit not legally obliged to report any wrongdoing that could be illegal to the relevant authorities? This does not appear to have happened in this case, but perhaps it should have for further investigation.

Does the Minister wish to reply?

Just to make the point that at the time the service argued that a substantial number of parents who had enrolled their children in the service did not adhere to their attendance schedule. Clearly, this can happen with services and that is the reason we have oversight by Pobal and the reason we revert to services to ask them for greater details. At the time, in 2010 and 2011, there was no follow-up with parents who had agreed an attendance pattern but whose children had not attended. Consequently, there was no structure to the hours of operation, resulting in overstaffing if the service could not predict attendance on a regular basis. I inform the Senator that it is not believed that the non-compliance of this service resulted in any personal financial gain to any member of the group and the group has been co-operative in meeting the repayment schedules.

I thank the Minister for dealing with this Adjournment matter and the Senator for raising it.

Planning Issues

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan.

I welcome the Minister of State and greatly appreciate her taking the time to deal with this Adjournment matter.

I raise an issue that affects more than 250 houses in the constituency in which I live, Cork North Central. While some of them are one-off houses, some are being built in new housing estates. People are purchasing houses only to find they do not have land-line access, broadband or an Internet service. When one considers the issue of planning, there are all sorts of regulations with regard to services such as water, sewerage connection and many other matters, including road infrastructure. However, one issue in this respect is that no consideration is given to whether communication facilities will be made available to the house purchasers.

I have been dealing with this issue for the past six months in the area in question. I have been on to Vodafone, Eircom, Cork Community Broadband and three or four other organisations but there has been no progress on the matter. The issue was really highlighted a number of weeks ago when people could not contact emergency services after a number of car accidents owing to the icy roads. This is causing a great problem people for people who have bought houses in the area and who are trying to work from home. It is also causing a great problem for people who have children in secondary school or college in that they cannot gain access to Internet services. Access to Internet information to assist with projects for school or college is now part of student research.

I did not realise that this could be such a problem in an area. I was based in Brussels for two years, including 2009. At the time there was a question about freeing up radio spectrum to ensure everyone could have access to Internet services. We seem to have made very little progress in this area.

The other issue about which I am concerned is that approximately 67% of households in Ireland have access to broadband, whereas the average across Europe is approximately 76%. I am raising this issue in regard to planning. Can it be raised with local authorities so they will make telecommunications infrastructure a prerequisite when granting planning permission? The area to which I refer is stuck between three old telephone exchanges, one in Grenagh, one in Donoughmore and another in Blarney. The area is at the end of the land line from each of the three exchanges. I am making no progress on the matter. With a view to moving forward, I ask that future development be taken into account when local authorities are considering the granting of planning permission. Communication services should be included as a condition.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. My reply is general, but perhaps I will address some of the specific points at the end.

The priority the Government attaches to achieving greater integration between planning, housing and infrastructure provision is underpinned by the planning legislative and policy framework. It would be inappropriate for a planning authority to determine a planning application solely based on the standard of communications services in an area. In this regard, when making a decision on a planning application under section 34 of the Planning and Development Act, a planning authority is required to consider the overall proper planning and sustainable development of the area, as well as having regard to, inter alia, the provisions of the local development plan and, where relevant, the policy of the Government, Minister or any other Minister of the Government.

Local development plans provide the blueprint for the sustainable development of an area, including the co-ordinated provision of infrastructure and services, including communications. Planning authorities must respond to the circumstances of their local communities when formulating their development plans and identify the appropriate facilities required. Generally, appropriate policies and objectives for inclusion in plans will relate to the allocation and reservation of land for housing, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational and other uses, setting appropriate development control standards, and indicating the provision of specific infrastructure and facilities.

Section 10(2)(b) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, specifically requires a development plan to include objectives for the provision or facilitation of the provision of infrastructure including, inter alia, communications facilities. This objective ensures that planning authorities' development plans can provide policies – for example, to facilitate the delivery and rolling out of broadband infrastructure in line with the Government's national broadband plan, published by my colleague the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in August 2012.

Section 11(3) of the Act requires a planning authority to take whatever measures it considers necessary to consult the providers of telecommunications, among others, in order to ascertain any long-term plans for the provision of infrastructure and services in the area of the planning authority.

My Department has issued guidelines to planning authorities on preparing and managing development plans that emphasise the need for the integrated provision of both infrastructure and supporting services to facilitate the development of sustainable communities and provide for a better quality of life in working, home and leisure environments.

My Department has issued guidelines on development contributions to ensure they appropriately promote the development of areas prioritised in core strategies, with an emphasis on reduced rates or waivers for certain categories of development. In this regard, development contributions which are levied as part of a planning permission to contribute towards the funding of infrastructure necessary to support the proposed development are waived to incentivise the; construction of broadband infrastructure. In essence, planning authorities are specifically required to include waivers for broadband infrastructure, namely masts and antennae, in development contribution schemes to incentivise the provision of such infrastructure in local communities.

Taken together, this range of measures is designed to ensure that settlement patterns are sustainable and that development is sited in the appropriate place from an infrastructural and environmental perspective. I have no plans to review the planning regulations specifically in regard to communications infrastructure. However, this issue should feature strongly in the development plans of local authorities. The development levies should assist in providing the infrastructure. However, the point the Senator is making is that the infrastructure should be in place before development occurs. I hope my answer is helpful.

I have a major concern about planning authorities and planning contributions. I know of cases in which much development work that was to be carried out was not carried out five years after commencement despite the planning authorities having received planning contributions. There are 250 families affected directly. A new housing estate is being put in place and prospective residents are being told it is an ideal place to live. It is not ideal because people need access to services. We can force all the parties involved in development to come to the table on this issue. Considering that we are quite clear in making sure roads, an adequate water supply and sewerage services are in place, why can we not stipulate that there should be adequate communications services available?

In the regional guidelines and the guidelines for development plans all elements of infrastructure, including communications infrastructure, would be referenced. However, I take the Senator's point that if these are not provided for in a specific case, it presents a difficulty for householders. The relevant infrastructure should be included in the plans. If the Senator argues that planning permission should be refused because there is no broadband, for example, he should realise this might not be possible for the whole country. It is one of the issues that must be taken into account in terms of any planning decisions or development plans drawn up by the local authority.

The Seanad adjourned at 6 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 2 April 2014.
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