Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 July 2014
318. Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the reason his Department provides funding to Bytel; the costs each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30353/14]
View answerUnder the Ireland/Northern Ireland Interreg IIIA cross border cooperation programme, the then Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (DCMNR) in collaboration with the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment provided funding to Bytel for the implementation of two cross border telecoms projects between 2004 and 2007. These were the Cross Border Extreme Broadband project and the Armagh-Monaghan Digital Corridor (AMDC) project.
The Cross Border Extreme Broadband project, which was implemented in 2004-2005, provided a high speed broadband service between Belfast and Dublin and between a number of locations in Northern Ireland and Letterkenny. The AMDC project, which was implemented in 2006-2007, provided a high speed telecoms link between Armagh and Monaghan.
The total funding paid to Bytel from the Interreg IIIA programme for the Cross Border Extreme Broadband project was €4.3m, of which €1,599,877 was paid in 2004 and €2,700,123 in 2005. The total contribution from DCMNR in respect of this was €505,680 of which €188,146 was paid in 2004 and €317,534 in 2005.
The Interreg funding paid to Bytel for the AMDC project was €716,441 which is broken down between €633,513 in 2006 and €82,928 in 2007. The DCMNR contribution to Bytel in respect of the AMDC project was €84,249 which is broken down between €74,497 in 2006 and €9,752 in 2007.
