Tuesday, 7 Mar 2017

Written Answers Nos. 730-744

Agri-Environment Options Scheme Payments

Questions (730)

Michael Ring

Question:

730. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) will receive their AEOS 2 payment. [12002/17]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The person named commenced their AEOS 2 contract on 1 September 2011. Payment issued in respect of the 2011-2015 Scheme years.

Under the EU Regulations governing the Scheme and other area-based payment schemes, a comprehensive administrative check, including cross-checks with the Land Parcel Identification System must take place. As 2016 is the final scheme-year of payment for the person named, re-checks on payments made for all scheme years must be completed before final payment can be processed. Payment will be processed as soon as possible following successful completion of these checks.

GLAS Payments

Questions (731)

Michael Ring

Question:

731. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) will receive their GLAS payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12003/17]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The person named was approved into GLAS 1 with a contract commencement date of 1 October 2015 and has received full entitlements in respect of the 2015 scheme year.

A Department official is in contact with the person named regarding these issues in relation to the Protection of Watercourses from Bovines action with a view to resolving and further processing the application for the 2016 scheme year payment.

Young Farmers Scheme

Questions (732)

Michael Ring

Question:

732. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) will receive a young farmers payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12004/17]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The person named submitted an application to my Department under the 2016 Young Farmers Scheme. Processing of Young Farmers Scheme applications is being finalised which involves administrative and on farm checks and verification of land details submitted under the Basic Payment Scheme application. These checks are required under EU Regulations and no further action is required from the person named at this time in relation to his application.

When all checks have been completed and processing of applications has been finalised, the Department will correspond directly with the person named to advise him of the outcome of his application.

GLAS Payments

Questions (733)

Michael Ring

Question:

733. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) will receive a 2016 GLAS payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12005/17]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The person named was approved into GLAS 1 with a contract commencement date of 1 October 2015 and has received full entitlements in respect of the 2015 scheme year.

During the 2016 prepayment checking process an issue was identified in relation to the Protection of Watercourses from Bovines action.  A department official has been in contact with the person named regarding this issue and the application is now being further processed for the 2016 scheme year payment.

GLAS Applications

Questions (734)

Michael Ring

Question:

734. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a GLAS application was received on behalf of a person (details supplied); the date this application was received; the date that correspondence issued to this person regarding this application for GLAS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12006/17]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

My Department has no record of a GLAS 1, 2 or 3 application being submitted on the GLAS online system for the person named.

GLAS Payments

Questions (735)

John Brassil

Question:

735. Deputy John Brassil asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current status regarding altering IT inputs for a person (details supplied) who is awaiting GLAS 2 payment; when payment will issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12017/17]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

An application from the person named under Tranche 1 of GLAS (GLAS 1) was received in my Department on the 13 May 2015.

Following the Departments pre-approval validation checks the application of the person named was unsuccessful and therefore was not selected for admission to the scheme. 

My Department has since carried out a comprehensive examination of the application and found that the person named did not fulfil the scheme requirements in relation to the Low-Input Permanent Pasture action and as a result of this the minimum required score for entry to GLAS 1 was not achieved. The initial assessment of the application deeming it unsuccessful for entry to GLAS 1 is correct. My Department issued a letter dated 7 March 2017 to the person named informing them of this decision.  This letter also advised the person named of the option of appealing this decision to the Agriculture Appeals Office within the statutory 3 month deadline.

Harbours and Piers Development

Questions (736)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

736. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has received a request from a local authority for funding to develop a pier (details supplied) in County Donegal; if he will give consideration to such a request; if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties experienced by harbour users and all those using the pier to carry out either commercial or recreational marine-based activities due to the lack of investment and development of the facility over a number of years; if his attention has been drawn to the many potential benefits that such a development may yield for the local economy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12161/17]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The pier at Port Inver is owned by Donegal County Council and responsibility for the maintenance and development of the pier rests with that Local Authority in the first instance and its parent Department, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government thereafter.

However, under the annual Fishery Harbour & Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme, my Department has in previous years provided limited funding to assist Local Authorities for small scale developments and repair of Local Authority owned harbours, piers and slipways, subject to available Exchequer funding and overall national priorities.

I am happy to inform the Deputy that funding of circa €14k and €4k was provided to Donegal County Council in 2014 and 2015 respectively for works at Port Inver.

This year I have approved funding of  €2.5m for the Local Authority element of the 2017 Capital Programme. On the 3rd February 2017, coastal Local Authorities were invited to submit prioritised lists of projects for consideration, the closing  date for these submissions was the 17 February. Donegal County Council submitted a proposal with regard to a project at Port Inver, for which further details have been sought.

Decisions on the final suite of projects that will attract funding in 2017 will be made having taken account of the overall funds available, the criteria set out, priorities placed by the Councils and the need for a broad geographical spread. It is expected that these decisions will be notified to the Local Authorities before the end of March.

GLAS Payments

Questions (737)

Pat Breen

Question:

737. Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payments will issue to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12164/17]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The person named was approved for GLAS 1 with a contract commencement date of 1 October 2015 and has received a first payment instalment in respect of the 2015 scheme year.

During the 2015 balancing prepayment checking process an issue presented on the computerised crosscheck of Department databases.  Department officials are actively working to resolve this issue with a view to further processing the application for the 2015 balancing payment as soon as possible.

Following the issue of payment in respect of the 2015 scheme year, the 2016 scheme year payment will be processed.

Air Quality

Questions (738)

Niall Collins

Question:

738. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason there is no air pollution monitoring in County Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11197/17]

Written answers

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment

To protect our environment with regard to air quality, a number of EU Directives set out standards for a wide variety of pollutants. The current standards are contained in the 2008 Clean Air for Europe (CAFE) Directive (Directive 2008/50/EC) and the Fourth Daughter Directive (Directive 2004/107/EC of 15 December 2004). These Directives also include rules on how Member States should monitor, assess and manage ambient air quality. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tasked with co-ordinating and managing the monitoring programme. Under the Directives, EU Member States must designate "Zones" for the purpose of managing air quality.  For Ireland, four zones were defined in the Air Quality Standards Regulations, 2011. The zones in place in Ireland in 2017 are Zone A: the Dublin conurbation, Zone B: the Cork conurbation, Zone C: comprising 23 large towns in Ireland with a population of more than 15,000 and Zone D: the remaining area of Ireland.

Ireland currently has a nationwide network of 31 monitoring stations which measure levels of air pollutants in the four zones. This information is delivered to the public in near real-time at www.airquality.epa.ie. The numbers and locations of the monitoring equipment for each pollutant are determined by the requirements of the Directives for ambient air monitoring in each zone.  There is one monitoring station in County Limerick, located on the Shannon Estuary near Askeaton.

Following a comprehensive review of the current status of ambient air quality monitoring in Ireland, the EPA is developing a new national ambient air quality monitoring programme under Section 65 of the EPA Act. My Department will provide the required funding to the Agency for this development which will strengthen the capacity and capability of the monitoring network to provide more comprehensive, localised air quality information linked to public health advice. The development of the expanded national ambient air monitoring network has included a review of the adequacy of the current network for both determining compliance with European and national standards for air quality, and for the provision of information to the public about local air quality.  I note that the programme proposes an additional monitoring site in Limerick City, and an indicative monitoring site in Abbeyfeale. I welcome the proposed expansion of the network and look forward to working with the EPA to develop its capacity to meet the future air quality needs of Irish citizens.

National Broadband Plan Implementation

Questions (739)

Joan Burton

Question:

739. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his role in the implementation of the national broadband plan; the number of homes in each county he expects to have 30 Mbps broadband speed by 2020; the number of businesses in each county that will be affected by the plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11699/17]

Written answers

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment

The Government considers the NBP to be one of the most significant investments in rural Ireland for decades, and one which will transform society, akin to rural electrification in the last century.  The strategy for broadband roll out,  the National Broadband Plan (NBP), which is a key priority for my Department, aims to deliver high speed broadband services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. This is being achieved through a combination of commercial investment by the telecommunications sector and a State Intervention in those areas where commercial investment has not been fully demonstrated.

A key principle of the NBP is to support and stimulate commercial investment through policy and regulatory measures. Commercial investment since the publication of the NBP has considerably exceeded expectations. To date, the commercial telecommunications sector has invested over €2.5bn in upgrading and modernising networks which support the provision of high speed broadband and mobile telecoms services.

There has been significant progress in relation to broadband roll out so that today, approximately 1.4m or 61% of premises in Ireland can get high speed broadband of a minimum of 30 Megabits per second. The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector, which is continuing to expand this footprint.

The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie shows the current extent of the State Intervention area: 

- The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial telecommunications providers are either currently delivering or have previously indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services; and

- The areas marked AMBER on the High Speed Broadband Map represent the target areas for the State Intervention, which are the subject of the current procurement process. It is intended that premises within this area will have access to services of at least 30 megabits per second when the procurement process is completed and the network rolled out. 

The map provides information on a county by county basis.  It also provides an analysis of county coverage with a breakdown of coverage across the townlands in every county in Ireland.  Individuals can check whether their premises is in a BLUE or an AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode.

My Department is actively monitoring commercial deployment plans in the BLUE areas to ensure that all households and businesses can get access to the services.  My Department is also actively monitoring developments of commercial operators that might impact the Intervention Area.  This is being done in accordance with procedures set out by my Department in December 2015.

I should add, however, that the provision of telecommunications services, including broadband services, is a matter for the service providers concerned who operate in a fully liberalised market, regulated by the independent regulator, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).  I do not have a statutory authority to require commercial companies to roll out services to particular locations.

A formal procurement process is now in train to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network within the State Intervention Area. The Department will also shortly update the High Speed Broadband map and finalise this Intervention Area for bidders, taking into account any industry investments that have not materialised and potential other new investments.

The procurement process is being intensively managed, to ensure an outcome that delivers a future-proofed network that serves homes and businesses across Ireland, for at least 25 years. Intensive dialogue with bidders is continuing and the three bidders have indicated that they are proposing a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution. This provides for a future proofed solution for the  25 years of the contract and beyond.  A fibre-to-the-home solution means that householders and businesses may get speeds not just of 30 Megabits per second but much higher, potentially up to 1000 Megabits per second.  

The timeframe for the procurement continues to be dependent on a range of factors including the complexities that may be encountered by the procurement team and bidders, during the procurement process. During the Department's extensive stakeholder consultations in 2015, telecommunications service providers indicated a 3-5 year timeline to roll out a network of the scale envisaged under the NBP. As part of the competitive process, the Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best roll out strategy, in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and/or high demand. This will need to be balanced with the most efficient network roll out plan. A prioritisation programme will be put in place in this regard, in consultation with the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. A detailed roll out plan for the network will be published once contract(s) are in place.

The Programme for Government also commits to measures to assist in the roll out of the network once a contract is awarded. In this regard, Minister Humphreys is leading on the establishment of two regional action groups, working with Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Offices and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract(s) has been awarded.

In a further positive initiative, last July, I established a Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce with my colleague Minister Humphreys to address immediate issues in relation to the quality of mobile phone and broadband coverage. The Taskforce report is available at the following link: http://www.dccae.gov.ie/communications/en-ie/Pages/Publication/Report-of-the-Mobile-Phone-and-Broadband-Taskforce.aspx.

I have signed Regulations allowing ComReg to proceed with an early 2017 auction of the 3.6GHz radio spectrum band, to provide an 86% increase in total spectrum available for mobile and fixed wireless services. I have also secured €8m for RTE which will allow it to free up the 700MHz spectrum band, to provide enhanced mobile services.  

In the meantime, my Department continues to liaise closely with industry and relevant other Departments and agencies to assist in the commercial deployment of telecommunications networks.

These investments should assist in significantly improving the coverage and quality of broadband and mobile voice and data services throughout the country.

Metropolitan Area Networks Programme

Questions (740)

Joan Burton

Question:

740. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the percentage of commercial customers who have availed of the metropolitan area networks, MANs, installed in rural areas; the actions to be taken as per action point 240 in the Action Plan for Rural Development (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11705/17]

Written answers

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment

The State invested in the construction of 88 Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), covering 94 regional cities. This MANs infrastructure provides a link between national backhaul networks and the “last mile” access networks that deliver telecommunications services to citizens and businesses. These wholesale, open access fibre networks are operated and managed in a commercial manner, on behalf of the State, by a Managed Services Entity (MSE),called enet. Currently, over 65 operators use the MANs infrastructure, and there are some 2,500 connections to the MANs. It is estimated that in excess of 600,000 business users and individuals are benefitting from the MANs, including industrial estates, multinationals, SMEs, State entities, educational institutions, together with fixed and mobile customers outside Dublin.  It is not possible to provide information relating to the percentage of commercial customers, since data relating to end customers is a matter for each individual service provider.

With reference to the Action Plan for Rural Development, the MSE continues to actively encourage licensed operators to utilise the MANs infrastructure. My Department is currently making arrangements to carry out an independent evaluation of the operations of the MANs, including pricing of the MANs products and services to ensure that they are within market norms. Recommendations are also being sought as to proposals to boost further uptake of the MANs.

Alternative Energy Projects

Questions (741)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

741. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount it would cost to create feed-in tariffs for community- and farm-based solar, wind and biomass electricity generation. [11184/17]

Written answers

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment

The Energy White Paper 'Ireland's Transition to a Low Carbon Energy Future 2015-2030' sets out a high-level framework for Ireland's energy transition to a low carbon economy and sets out a number of actions to support this aim. My Department is currently developing a new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) which will be designed to assist us meeting these RES-E targets. The renewable technologies under consideration were identified following a public consultation engagement in 2015, which received over 800 responses, and includes Solar Photovoltaic (PV), Wind and Biomass for electricity generation. The development of the new renewable electricity support scheme also requires detailed economic analysis on the viability and cost effectiveness of supporting these renewable technologies at various scales, including at the community level. This analysis and assessment is currently underway and a second public consultation will be published in Q2 2017 outlining various scheme design options. Specifically relating to small scale and community led projects, there are commitments made in the Energy White Paper to support community led initiatives and the engagement of citizens in the energy transition. How these community schemes are appropriately structured and funded will be assessed as part of the analysis currently under way to support the development of the new scheme.

Before any new scheme is introduced, it will need to secure Government approval and State aid clearance from the European Commission.

Postal Codes

Questions (742, 743, 744)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

742. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason the website for the Irish national postcode is hosted in the UK by a company (details supplied); and the reason the site, which is national infrastructure, is not hosted here by an Irish Internet service provider. [11382/17]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

743. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason the Eircode business name is registered as being owned by a company (details supplied) rather than the State. [11383/17]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

744. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason the trademark for Eircode is registered in London and owned by a company (details supplied) rather than the State. [11384/17]

Written answers

Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment

I propose to take Questions Nos. 742 to 744, inclusive, together.

Capita Business Support Services Ireland, trading as Eircode, was awarded a 10 year contract in December 2013 to develop, implement, maintain and promote the National Postcode System "Eircode".

Capita with the approval and on behalf of the Minster have developed the Eircode brand name, trademarks and website. The Eircode business name and domain name are registered under Capita Business Support Services Ireland, a company registered in Ireland. The trademark is registered at a European level and is operated by Capita Business Support Services Ireland.

All Intellectual Property (IP) relating to National Postcode System, “Eircode”, including the website, branding and associated trademarks remain in the ownership of the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment.