Written Answers Nos. 141-155
141. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will remove the governance of the Marine Institute and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority from the marine division of his Department in order to ensure the real independence of these bodies as was intended by the House of the Oireachtas when granting them statutory status. [21183/19]
View answerThe marine related policy functions which fall under the aegis of this Department are managed in accordance with relevant applicable legislation. The Marine Agencies Governance Unit, located within the Sea Fisheries Policy & Management Division of my Department, is responsible for corporate governance oversight of the Marine Institute (MI) and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA).
The oversight role of the Department in this respect is to ensure that each of the marine agencies is and remains compliant with the revised code of practice for the Governance of state bodies (2016). It has no function in relation to operational matters. I am satisfied that the issue of any lack of operational independence for the marine agencies in question does not arise.
142. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will initiate discussions with Inland Fisheries Ireland to strengthen his role in salmon farm licensing in view of his recent decision to revoke a salmon farm licence and the other ongoing investigations by his Department into licence breaches. [21184/19]
View answerAquaculture Licensing is regulated by my Department in accordance with the provisions of the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act, the 1933 Foreshore Act (where applicable) and relevant National and EU legislation.
The licence application procedure includes a period of public and statutory consultation. Inland Fisheries Ireland is a full statutory consultee. Decisions in respect of aquaculture licence applications are only taken following full consideration of all views submitted as part of the statutory and public consultation process. The licence application process is designed to strike a balance between the rights and obligations of all parties including the applicant(s), statutory consultees, relevant NGOs and the general public. I am satisfied that the current licensing system meets all of these requirements.
143. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will conduct an investigation into the reason it took the licensing division of his Department three years to conclude its investigation into licence breaches by a company (details supplied) at its salmon farm site. [21185/19]
View answer144. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether the delay by his Department in investigating licence breaches by salmon farmers demonstrates that, in practical terms, the industry is virtually unregulated. [21186/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 143 and 144 together.
The case referred to by the Deputy was examined by my Department as expeditiously as possible having regard to the scientific, technical, legal and public interest issues involved.
Aquaculture Licensing is regulated by my Department in accordance with the provisions of the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act, the 1933 Foreshore Act (where applicable) and relevant National and EU legislation.
Monitoring and compliance issues associated with aquaculture are proactively examined by my Department having regard to the specific issues that arise in each case.
147. Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of his efforts to resubmit an acceptable system of penalty points for serious fishing infringements, which Ireland is obliged to introduce as per a European Union directive; the consultation he has had on this matter with the sector since this Deputy last raised the issue with him; the timeframe for introducing his revised proposals; the form in which he plans to introduce them to Dáil Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21271/19]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, on 20th March 2018, I signed into force the European Union (Common Fisheries Policy) (Point System) Regulations 2018, S.I. No. 89 of 2018 which fully met the requirement of the relevant EU regulation insofar as the licence holders were concerned. However, the S.I. was annulled by Dail Eireann on 29 May 2018.
Given this annulment of the Statutory Instrument that met the EU requirements and the infringement proceedings taken against Ireland by the EU Commission, I requested legal advice from the Attorney General on the matter. This advice has been received and I am, at present, considering, with my legal advisors, the next steps.
As the Deputy is aware, the 2009 EU Fisheries Control Regulation 1224//2009 and EU Commission Implementing Regulation 404/2011 introduced points systems for serious infringements of the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy committed by the licence holder of a fishing vessel and also separately the master. These are intended to complement sanctions and promote compliance and were required to be in place on 1st of January 2012. Both of these EU regulations went through the ordinary legislative procedures at EU level which would have included widespread consultation with interested parties including the Member States, Advisory Councils, NGOs and the fishing Industry. The matter has also been discussed at industry liaison meetings over the years. The EU regulations are highly prescriptive in relation to licence holders, leaving little room for further negotiation.
I can assure the Deputy that I am fully committed to delivering on Ireland's legal obligations in this regard at the earliest possible date.
148. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to extend high-speed fibre broadband to a household (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21203/19]
View answerThe premises referred to by the Deputy is in the AMBER area on the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map, which is available on my Department's website at www.broadband.gov.ie.
The AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led intervention under the NBP.
This intervention is the subject of the procurement process to engage a company to build, operate and maintain the NBP State intervention network. Following rigorous evaluation by the Department, I recently brought a recommendation to Government to confer Preferred Bidder status on Granahan McCourt, the remaining bidder in the NBP procurement process and Government agreed to this at its meeting on 7 May.
The Government decision means that it is intended to award the State Intervention contract to Granahan McCourt, subject to the contract close, including the finalisation of financial and legal documents. Deployment of the NBP State Intervention network will commence shortly after that.
The bidder has indicated that the NBP State intervention will take an estimated 7 years from the beginning of deployment.
In the first year of roll out, the Bidder will deploy approximately 300 Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) across all counties. It is anticipated that between 7 and 23 BCPs will be deployed in each county. BCPs will provide a community based high speed broadband service, enhancing online participation and allowing for the establishment of digital work hubs in these locations. A deployment plan will be made available by the bidder once the contract is signed. The Bidder is aiming to pass 133,000 premises by end of the second year of the overall deployment, with 70-100,000 passed each year thereafter until roll out is completed.
149. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the roll-out of broadband in an area (details supplied); and the steps being made to address gaps in coverage in the area. [21245/19]
View answerIn April 2017, my Department published an updated version of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map. This is available at www.broadband.gov.ie.
The map shows the areas targeted by commercial operators to provide high speed broadband services and the areas that will be included in the State Intervention Area under the National Broadband Plan. The Map is colour coded and searchable by address/Eircode:
- The AMBER area represents the parts of the country where commercial operators have no plans to build high speed broadband networks. Premises in the AMBER area will be provided with high Speed Broadband through a State Intervention.
- The BLUE area represents those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services.
- The LIGHT BLUE area represents eir's commercial rural deployment plans to rollout high speed broadband to 300,000 premises as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017.
The table below details the percentage of premises to be covered by the State Intervention and through commercial investment in the areas identified by the Deputy. eir's deployment within the townlands of Magillstown and Balheary is now complete.
|
Townland |
Premises within the NBP Intervention Area |
Premises within Commercial Operator’s Area |
Premises within eir planned rural deployment |
Total |
|
Magillstown |
59% (13) |
41% (9) |
0% (0) |
100% (22) |
|
Balheary |
45% (17) |
55% (21) |
0% (0) |
100% (38) |
Premises where commercial providers are not currently delivering or have indicated no plans to deliver high speed broadband services will be addressed through the National Broadband Plan State led Intervention.
This intervention is the subject of the procurement process to engage a company to build, operate and maintain the NBP State intervention network. Following rigorous evaluation by my Department, I recently brought a recommendation to Government to confer Preferred Bidder status on Granahan McCourt, the remaining bidder in the NBP procurement process and Government has agreed to this at its meeting on 7 May.
The Government Decision of 7 May 2019 means that it is intended to award the State Intervention contract to the Bidder. This award is subject to contract close including finalisation of financial and legal documents. Deployment of the NBP State Intervention network will commence shortly after that.
The Bidder has indicated that the NBP State intervention will take an estimated 7 years from the beginning of deployment.
In the first year of this roll out, the Bidder will deploy approximately 300 Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) across all counties. It is anticipated that between 7 and 23 BCPs will be deployed in each county. BCPs will provide a community based high speed broadband service, enhancing online participation and allowing for the establishment of digital work hubs in these locations. A deployment plan will be made available by the bidder once the contract is signed. The Bidder is aiming to pass 133,000 premises by end of the second year of the overall deployment, with 70-100,000 passed each year thereafter until roll out is completed.
150. Deputy Declan Breathnach asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of houses and properties that do not have poles or infrastructure nearby to provide broadband connections to such properties from the roadway without major investment. [21255/19]
View answerThe Department and National Broadband Ireland (NBI) have completed high level designs to determine the quantities of existing infrastructure that can be re-used and quantities of new infrastructure that will need to be deployed to deliver the NBP project.
In addition, NBI has completed a number of low-level designs to corroborate the assumptions made in the high level designs. The Department has separately completed several network models and associated cost models down to the premises level.
The high level designs take into account the various passive infrastructure databases (i.e. buildings, poles and ducts) as well as the Eircode database of premises. This analysis outlines that nearly 99% of the premises in the intervention area are 150 metres or less from the road and the vast majority of these are less than 50 metres from the road.
Once the deployment commences a detailed design process will be conducted by NBI which is referred to as the low-level design. This low level design includes a detailed site survey of each route and each premises to be served on that route. The site survey will confirm what infrastructure is in place and what infrastructure will be required in order to enable a connection to be made to each premises. Every effort will be made to reduce costs by utilising existing infrastructure. In the cases where there are ‘difficult to serve’ premises NBI will consider alternative solutions to deliver the high speed broadband service.
151. Deputy Declan Breathnach asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to take a company (details supplied) back into State control; if such an offer would be cost effective in the long run in view of the fact that it would then be a State-owned company with the task of the broadband roll-out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21269/19]
View answer152. Deputy Declan Breathnach asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to use the ESB in the roll-out of broadband to properties that are waiting for connection under the State intervention scheme; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the ESB already has direct access to all properties and its infrastructure could be used in the provision of broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21273/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 151 and 152 together.
The possibility of allocating the National Broadband State intervention to the ESB was considered as part of the alternative options analysis conducted by my Department. The Attorney General has advised that there are significant legal risks in relation to both procurement law and state aid law, if the State was to mandate and fund directly outside a procurement process any economic undertaking, including a commercial semi-state body such as the ESB, to carry out the National Broadband Plan.
Furthermore, engagement between officials of my Department and DG Competition, which is the Directorate General of the European Commission with responsibility for State Aid matters, has clearly established that it is the view of DG Competition that it would not be possible to provide a State subsidy to a commercial semi-state body, such as the ESB, to roll out the National Broadband Plan without undertaking a new public procurement process.
However, the ESB pole network may still used by National Broadband Ireland where possible and more effective than using the eir pole and duct network.
Regarding the purchase of eir, eir is a privately traded company whose value is not known. In March 2018, it was reported that a 64% stake in the company was sold for €3.5 billion. Any purchase of the company would require negotiation with current owners and in the event the company was purchased by the State a new procurement process for the NBP State intervention would still be required under State Aid rules.
In both the scenarios outlined above, any new procurement process would be required to be open to other commercial entities and would likely add at least two further years to the National Broadband Plan process. In addition, given that both eir and SIRO (the joint venture between the ESB and Vodafone) were bidders in the current process and withdrew before submitting a final tender, it is unclear if either entity would tender for the State intervention contract under any new process.
153. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the extent to which redundancy packages are in hand for Bord Na Móna employees likely to lose their jobs in the foreseeable future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21292/19]
View answerWhile the matter raised by the Deputy is an operational one for Bord na Móna and not one in which I, as Minister, have any function, I continue to monitor developments in this matter closely. I am advised by Bord na Móna that the voluntary redundancy scheme continues to be rolled out by the company in line with operational requirements.
154. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, will consider a bus shelter for an area (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21235/19]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure, including the provision of bus shelters.
Noting the NTA's responsibility in the matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for a direct reply. Please contact my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 days.
155. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the fact that transport costs rose 3.7% in April 2019 compared to 1.7% average consumer price inflation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21249/19]
View answerI presume that the Deputy is referring to the latest CSO Consumer Price Index Statistical release.
Questions in relation to economic costs generally and inflation are a matter for my colleague Paschal Donohoe TD, Minister for Finance.
