Written Answers Nos. 265-275
265. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding a domiciliary care allowance appeal in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20310/14]
View answerThe Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 15 April 2014, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
266. Deputy Dara Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection when a decision will issue on an appeal for carer's allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 24; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20311/14]
View answerI am advised by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that an Appeals Officer, having fully considered all of the available evidence, has decided to allow the appeal of the person concerned by way of a summary decision. The person concerned has been notified of the Appeals Officer’s decision. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements.
269. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will review a decision to refuse an application for domiciliary care allowance in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Laois; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20322/14]
View answerAn application for domiciliary care allowance was received from the person concerned on the 10th October 2013. This application was referred to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors whose opinion was that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on the 8th January 2014 advising of the decision to disallow the application. The person concerned subsequently lodged an appeal against this decision. As part of the appeal process, the case has been forwarded to another of the Department’s Medical Assessors for further consideration, including a review of any new information supplied. Upon receipt of the Medical Assessor’s opinion, the case will be further examined by a deciding officer, who will revise the original decision if warranted or forward the case for consideration by the Appeals Office.
270. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the anomaly that exists regarding correspondence or distance learning courses, the popularity of which has grown considerably, under which a person is not entitled to back to education payments because he or she is considered available for full-time employment but also not entitled to a jobseeker's payment when unable to secure employment because he or she is considered to be pursuing an educational course; if this will be reviewed urgently in view of the hardship that such a restrictive interpretation of the system is causing. [20327/14]
View answerThe jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker’s allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The Revised Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure on the jobseeker’s schemes of €3.28bn in 2014.
To qualify for jobseeker’s benefit or allowance a person must satisfy certain conditions, including the requirement to be available for full-time work and genuinely seeking such work. While the relevant legislation excludes from the schemes students who are attending a full-time day course of study other situations, including online degree courses, must be examined individually to determine if participation is consistent with satisfying all conditions of the relevant scheme. In this context, factors to be considered are the status of the course, i.e. full-time or part-time, and the overall level of commitment, including the time and possible expense involved, required by the course participant.
In general, it is considered that the level of commitment required to participate in a full-time course of education is not consistent with the jobseeker’s schemes requirement to be available for full-time employment and genuinely seeking such work. However, decisions are made based on the circumstances of each case. To qualify for back to education allowance a person must be in full-time attendance at college. Distance learning courses do not fall within this remit. There are no plans to change the criteria outlined above in respect of the jobseeker's or back to education allowance schemes.
271. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will issue arrears due to a domiciliary care allowance application in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20359/14]
View answerDomiciliary care allowance is awarded from the month following receipt of the application unless there was good cause for the delay in applying. Domiciliary care allowance was awarded to the person concerned from 1st July 2013 following receipt of the application in June 2013. Additional information has been provided requesting payment of arrears in this case. The application is currently being reviewed by a Deciding Officer and a decision on the backdating of this claim, will issue to the person concerned when that review is complete.
272. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will provide an update on plans to preserve 14-17 Moore Street, Dublin 1; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20189/14]
View answerI have now given approval, under the National Monuments Acts, to the revised designs, submitted by the owners of the national monument at Nos. 14 – 17 Moore Street, for the restoration of the monument buildings and the creation of a commemorative centre to the Leaders of the 1916 Rising on the site. It is now a matter for the monument owners to progress the works.
273. Deputy John Halligan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his Department has investigated the high charges imposed by mobile telephone providers here; his views on whether the charges are excessively high in direct comparison with the rest of mainland Europe; if he will now commit to addressing the issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19946/14]
View answerMobile service providers, operating within the EU internal market, are free to set their national call charges at a level they judge the market will accept. ComReg operates a website www.callcosts.ie to assist mobile telephone users in Ireland to identify the most competitively priced mobile telephone plans suitable to their needs. The ComReg site also offers advice on additional checks customers should undertake before moving from one provider to another, in order to avoid penalty payments for early cessation of services, as one example of the additional points customers should consider in their own interests.
ComReg also publishes quarterly data reports on developments within the electronic communication sector which include price comparisons across participating EU countries. The performance of service providers on mobile prices in Ireland varies across the different baskets considered. In the December 2013 report Ireland:
- ranks 7th lowest among the 21 countries benchmarked in the high user post-paid mobile basket,
- ranks 8th lowest priced out of the 21 benchmarked countries for the medium user post-paid mobile basket,
- ranks 3rd highest of 20 countries compared for the low user post-paid mobile basket, and
- ranks 5th highest among the 21 benchmarked countries in the pre-paid mobile basket.
The wide variation in performance across these different categories is indicative that consumer choice is exerting downward pressure on prices in categories where consumer price sensitivity is keenest.
274. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans regarding the future of the post office network in County Donegal; the future plans for Lettermacaward post office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19972/14]
View answerIssues relating to the post office network, including the opening or closing of post offices, are an operational matter for the Board and management of An Post and one in which I have no statutory function. I will request An Post to issue a direct reply to the Deputy regarding the future of the post office at Lettermacaward.
275. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the number of small towns and villages in County Kerry expected to be connected to the new State-subsidised fibre broadband service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19983/14]
View answer277. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he expects the town of Carrigallen in County Leitrim (details supplied) to be provided with fibre broadband under the current roll-out programme. [20258/14]
View answer284. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if sufficient investment has taken place to ensure the availability of adequate broadband facilities throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20364/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 275, 277 and 284 together.
The Government’s National Broadband Plan, which I published in August 2012, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses. This will be achieved by providing:
- a policy and regulatory framework that assists in accelerating and incentivising commercial investment, and
- a State-led intervention for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest.
Since the publication of the Plan, investments by the commercial sector are underway and in some instances have been accelerated in both fixed line and wireless high speed broadband services. Commercial operators combined have either invested, or committed to invest, over €2 billion in their Irish networks, delivering high speed broadband to homes and businesses. For example:
- Eircom is rolling out a €400m investment in a Next Generation Access Fibre Network that offers speeds of up to 100Mbps. Service is already available to over 800,000 addresses, with planned coverage to reach 1.4m addresses by 2016.
- UPC has invested over €500m in upgrading its cable network. Over 700,000 homes can already access minimum broadband speeds of 120Mbps and up to 200Mbps. Businesses can access speeds of 500Mbps.
- ESB is engaged in a new project allowing a fibre network to be rolled-out on its existing electricity infrastructure. It is understood that discussions between ESB and Vodafone to form a new Joint Venture Company are at an advanced stage. The company has initial plans to construct a fibre network directly to 450,000 premises outside of Dublin and it is expected that details will be announced over the coming weeks.
- Mobile operators have launched 4G high speed mobile broadband services following ComReg’s multiband spectrum auction. There has also been continued investment by all operators in enhancing and broadening 3G services and network improvements.
- Fixed wireless operators are continuing to invest in high speed point-to-point wireless broadband.
- The broadcaster Sky has entered the broadband market, increasing choice for consumers.
Of the estimated 2.3m premises in Ireland, approximately 1.4m are expected to be served by these commercial next generation broadband services over the coming years.
This accelerated roll out of high speed services by the commercial sector means that the addressable area required by the State intervention has been reduced by 30% since the National Broadband Plan was launched. While the commercial developments are welcome the acceleration of investment is largely contained to cities and towns. The speeds that are available in these areas are demonstrably better than those that are available in more rural areas.
On 25 April, I signalled the Government's commitment to a major telecommunications network build-out to rural Ireland, with fibre as the foundation of its investment under the National Broadband Plan. This commitment is a clear expression of Government’s determination to address the connectivity challenge in rural Ireland in a meaningful and sustainable way. Central to the strategy will be a fibre build-out to locations in every county in the State identified as having no existing or planned enabling fibre network. It is intended that the fibre will be delivered directly to access points for homes and businesses, where service providers can utilise the fibre to provide high speed services to end users. The fibre build-out will also ensure that fibre is deployed to strategic locations on each route such as schools, business hubs and health facilities. The fibre build out will be part of an end-to-end strategy that will address all parts of Ireland that cannot access commercial high speed broadband services.
I have published a county-by-county list of towns and villages which have already been identified for a fibre build-out. This is an indicative list and is subject to the completion of the comprehensive mapping process currently underway. Further locations may be identified as this process continues. Similarly, it may be determined that some locations on the list will be addressed by the commercial sector and will therefore not require State intervention. Currently I envisage that a total of 59 areas in County Kerry will be included in the proposed fibre build-out. The list is available on my Departments website www.dcenr.gov.ie.
In tandem with the fibre build-out, the Strategy will include measures to respond to aggregated community demand for services, and the provision of access services in the most remote areas where fibre rollout may be insufficient to stimulate commercial investment or may be cost-prohibitive.
Intensive design work is ongoing in the Department with a view to publishing an end-to-end implementation strategy later this year, together with the outcome of the mapping exercise which will identify the areas that require intervention. A full public consultation will take place once the strategy is published and EU State Aids clearance will be required for the intervention strategy once finalised. It is expected that the detailed procurement process will take place in 2015 with a view to commencing construction of the fibre network and provision of services in the areas that require intervention as quickly as possible.
The EU Commission’s guidelines on state aid for high speed broadband infrastructure preclude member states from intervening in regions in which private investors have demonstrated plans to roll out their own infrastructure within the following three years. In this regard it is noted that at least one network operator has published a programme to roll out a fibre-based broadband network in County Leitrim, which includes rolling out that service in Carrigallen by July 2016.
I fully share the concerns of local representatives about the quality of broadband in rural areas. I intend to ensure that rural Ireland enjoys similar opportunities to urban areas by ensuring an end-to end market intervention with fibre as a core component. In committing to a fibre build-out at the heart of this strategy, the Government is acknowledging that broadband is the key infrastructure of the 21st century.
