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Departmental Meetings

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 November 2018

Tuesday, 6 November 2018

Questions (818)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

818. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he, his departmental officials or his ministerial predecessors have met companies and an organisation (details supplied) and-or representatives of same in the past three years to date; if so, if a schedule of those meetings and the associated minutes will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44771/18]

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Written answers

In reply to Question No. 248 of 18 October 2018, I provided a schedule of meetings between my Department and enet dating from October 2016 which included meetings relating to the NBP and the Metropolitan Area Networks. The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has a broad remit and is responsible for communications, broadcasting, postal services, energy, natural resources, climate change, waste management, air quality and environmental policy.  The day-to-day functions of the Department in carrying out its remit, therefore, involve engagement with a broad range of stakeholders.

The NBP procurement process is being conducted as a “Competitive Dialogue” process which, by its nature, has involved a significant level of interaction with each of the bidders that participated in that process. This includes more than 230 meetings between the NBP Procurement Team and representatives of the Granahan McCourt led consortium, which includes representatives of enet, since the Competitive Dialogue process commenced in July 2016. As these meetings form part of an ongoing procurement process it is not proposed to publish further details at this time. I have not been involved in any of those meetings nor, my Department informs me, was former Minister Naughten.

enet is also the Management Services Entity for the State owned Metropolitan Area Networks. As the Contracting Authority’s Representative and in accordance with best practice in Contract Governance, my Department meets with enet on a routine basis on operational and administrative matters affecting the MANs as they arise. I will provide a schedule to the Deputy as soon as possible, of meetings between enet and senior officials in my Department, covering the period November 2015 to October 2016. I can confirm at this time that my predecessor Deputy Naughten and officials met with enet representatives on one occasion during that period, with the meeting taking place on 20 July 2016.

My Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development hold quarterly meetings with each of the organisations responsible for the delivery of actions arising out of the 2016 Report of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce, in order to obtain an update and prepare quarterly progress reports on the actions. enet is also part of the industry group Telecommunications Internet Federation (TIF) that meets collectively with the Departmental officials in relation to their specific commitments under the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce report.  The type of actions for delivery by the telecommunications operators include identifying, in consultation with Local Authorities, optimal locations for additional infrastructure to improve coverage; providing greater transparency of mobile phone contract costs for customers; and reporting on activities undertaken to optimise the performance of their networks. Discussions arising at such meetings between the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce and TIF inform regular quarterly progress reports, which are published on my Department’s website and that of DRCD. The minutes of meetings of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce Implementation Group are also published on both Departments’ websites.

With regards to the Irish Infrastructure Fund, officials from my Department advise of two meetings in August of this year with a representative of AMP Capital (subsidiary of AMP Limited, a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange) who acts as the investment advisor to the Irish Infrastructure Fund (IIF) and manages it’s investment portfolio) . 

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