Thank you, Chairman. I am happy to be here to engage in this process. I am pleased to introduce the 2008 Revised Estimates for the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
The gross provision of more than €532 million represents an increase of 17% over last year's outturn. This significant increase in funding reflects the Government's support for the key areas under the remit of my Department.
Energy, communications and natural resources policies have critical contributions to make in the three core areas of supporting competitiveness, enhancing sustainable development and developing innovation. In addition, energy policy has a crucial role to play in dealing with the major global challenge of climate change.
Effective and efficient public delivery is fundamental and priority will be given to best use of resources by my Department, focusing on outputs, outcomes and the delivery of value for money. In this regard, I am pleased to present to the committee the Department's annual output statement, a copy of which each committee member has already received. This is the first time information is provided on performance against targets. Good progress was made in 2007 on delivering on the outputs set in last year's statement. The key output targets to be delivered on in 2008 can be found in part 4 of the statement.
As members will appreciate the output statement represents a major initiative in trying to match outputs and inputs to funding. My Department is engaged in an ongoing review of the format of the output statement and would welcome comments in that regard. The administrative budget set out for 2008 amounts to €33.780 million. Subheads A1 to A9 constitute the administrative budget which provides, among other matters, for the salaries and associated costs for the staff of the Department. It also covers the engagement of consultancy expertise, the ongoing implementation of the Department’s IT strategy, staff training and development and value for money and policy initiatives.
The reduction in the 2008 administrative budget provision, in comparison with the outturn for 2007, principally reflects the transfer of marine staff and functions to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with effect from 20 October 2007.
A total of €62 million is being provided in 2008 for communications and multimedia developments. A world class electronic communications sector is critical to our continued economic and social prosperity, and in this regard the provision of broadband services is a major priority for the Government. The latest market report from the communications regulator reported that there were 886,300 broadband subscribers at the end of 2007. This figure includes mobile broadband and corresponds to a penetration rate of 20.5 subscribers per 100 of population. The 20.5% penetration rate is spread across homes and businesses and covers more that 44% of homes in Ireland. These figures represent a 12% increase since quarter three of 2007 and a 71% increase on the same quarter in 2006. Ireland continues to be one of the fastest growing broadband markets in Europe and is the fastest growing country for penetration in the OECD.
Almost €54 million, under subhead B1 in 2008, is being provided for continued Government investment in open access broadband infrastructure on a nationwide basis and to ensure the provision of broadband services. It is expected that all networks currently under construction under phase II of the Metropolitan Area Networks, MANs, programme will be complete by the end of 2008. A decision on any future Government investment in broadband infrastructure, including MANs, will be made following consideration of the recommendations of a value for money and policy review of phase I of the MANs programme and the final recommendations of my Department’s next generation broadband policy paper.
In May of last year the national broadband scheme procurement process commenced. This scheme will provide broadband services to the areas of Ireland that are currently not served. I expect the tender process to be concluded and the preferred tenderer to be selected by the end of July 2008, with services being rolled out as quickly as possible thereafter. My Department has recently received notice of judicial review proceedings regarding certain elements of the NBS mapping process. These proceedings are currently before the Commercial Court and due for hearing on 10 June 2008. A speedy conclusion of the matter has been requested to advance the NBS as quickly as possible.
An amount of €5 million is provided under subhead B2 towards the operating costs of the National Digital Research Centre. A further €2.22 million under subhead B2 is provided for the work of the Digital Hub Development Agency. The agency continues to attract enterprise, with a current cluster of 85 companies now employing more than 750 people.
Subhead B3 represents my Department’s allocation from the dormant accounts fund under the RAPID programme. An amount of €1.15 million is provided for projects that will assist disadvantaged young people to exploit information and communications technology opportunities.
Subheads C1 to C6, provide more than €277 million in respect of the broadcasting sector in 2008. It is estimated that broadcasting licence fee revenue of more than €232 million under subhead H4 will provide for grant-in-aid of €208 million to RTE under subhead C1, licence collection costs of €12.7 million under subhead C2 and a contribution of more than €10.9 million to the broadcasting fund under subhead C5.
TG4 was established as an independent statutory body on 1 April 2007 and I am particularly pleased to have secured a further increase in funding this year for TG4. The provision of €36.58 million under subhead C4 will allow TG4 to further strengthen its Irish language schedules and reduce its repeat ratio.
Grant-in-aid of €6.4 million is provided under subhead C3, to enable the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, BCI, to carry out its regulatory and licensing functions in the independent television and radio sector. The BCI also administers the broadcasting funding scheme under subhead C5 which provides grants for new television and radio programmes in the areas of Irish culture, heritage and experience and adult literacy. It is envisaged that €10.997 million will be paid into the fund in 2008.
My Department has implemented a digital terrestrial television pilot project which is being used by stakeholders to test the service in Ireland and to develop momentum in this regard. The pilot began in August 2006 and is expected to run until August 2008. The estimate for digital terrestrial television costs in 2008 is €2 million under subhead C6, which covers the operation and monitoring of the DTT service.
More than €86 million is provided in the Estimate for the energy sector in 2008. Action is under way across all the key deliverables with a range of initiatives already launched to accelerate delivery of renewable energy targets, energy efficiency, distributed generation and demand side management, including the national smart meters programme. The review of the all-island energy market development framework is under way with Northern Ireland colleagues, following the successful launch of the single electricity market in November 2007.
More than €72 million under subheads D1 and D4 is being provided to support the implementation of energy conservation programmes and to promote alternative energy sources. This contrasts with the outturn for 2007 of just over €59 million. The major spending areas are on greener homes at €27 million and on the house of tomorrow at €12 million. Funding of €5 million will allow SEI to conduct a pilot home energy saving scheme to provide capital grants and other supports to householders wishing to invest in improving the energy efficiency of their homes through improved insulation and so on, in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. An allocation of €2.5 million will enable SEI to expand its energy advice services to industry and in particular provide energy advice to SMEs. Funding of €1 million will allow the development of a new passive housing programme to encourage developers to adopt passive housing standards in residential developments.
As part of the national energy efficiency campaign launched by the Government in 2006, €2.5 million under subhead F4 will fund the costs of the Power of One campaign. The overriding objective of that campaign is to achieve real and measurable change in consumer awareness and behaviour regarding energy efficiency. The aim is to more than double the contribution from renewable energy to 15% of the electricity market by 2010, which is up from less than 7% in 2005. We hope to more than double that contribution again to 33% in the following ten years to 2020. The targets for renewable heating will be realised through programmes such as reheat, costing €2 million, combined heat and power at €4 million and the greener homes scheme at €27 million. These programmes provide grants for the installation of renewable heat technology across a wide range of sectors.
We have also introduced dedicated programmes for wave and tidal energy conversion. Sustainable Energy Ireland also operates a research and development fund for suitable energy technologies. There is also a programme beginning this year to install smart meters in all domestic dwellings. These measures will ensure we can maintain growth in renewable energy deployment in the period between 2010 and 2020.
The commitment to building energy research capacity has been reflected in the provision of more than €13 million under subhead D3 in 2008 for national energy RTDI programmes. It is a key priority for the Government to accelerate research and development into renewable energy technologies, notably ocean energy, to realise Ireland’s undoubted potential and to deliver on the national targets for renewable energy. On 15 January 2008, a major programme of activities, grants and supports was announced to develop ocean energy in Ireland, with significant targeted funding to go to the sector over the next three years.
The key challenge in the natural resources area is to manage our river, mineral, hydrocarbon and other geological resources in a sustainable and productive manner. The Department must ensure that resources are managed and developed appropriately, to maximise the benefits to Ireland from exploration and production of our indigenous oil and gas resources, while ensuring that activities are conducted safely and with due regard to their impact on the environment. This year the industry will drill at least four exploration wells offshore with the possibility of a further two to three exploration wells. Drilling four wells would attain a level achieved only twice in the past 20 years, and shows an active and committed level of interest by the industry.
Subhead E2, together with the associated carryover from 2007, provides funding of more than €7 million in 2007 in respect of mining services in 2008, of which €4.4 million is ring fenced for rehabilitation works at Silvermines in County Tipperary. The provision of €1.7 million under subhead E4 will fund a range of multi-annual initiatives in the geoscience field, which includes the Griffith research awards. The main priorities of the geoscience initiatives include supporting the sustainable development of Ireland’s natural resources along with the provision of reliable geoscience support for environmental protection and effective spatial planning.
Subhead E5 provides €4 million in 2008 for INFOMAR, the successor to the Irish national seabed survey. INFOMAR is designed to map Ireland’s shallow inshore waters, thereby completing the process initiated under the Irish national seabed survey, which mapped Ireland’s offshore areas.
Subhead E6 provides for the payment of grant-in-aid to Ordnance Survey Ireland, which came under the aegis of my Department last January. As it is the national mapping agency, many aspects of OSI's activities are undertaken in the public interest, and the Exchequer's subvention is designed to bridge the gap between the level of income from its commercial operations and that of its expenditure.
Subhead F1 provides more than €35 million in 2008 for the management of the inland fisheries resource. This includes more than €31 million for the operations and activities of the Central Fisheries Board and regional fisheries boards, and it includes additional resources allocated to salmon management initiatives. Some €4.5 million is provided as our 50% contribution to the operation costs of the Loughs Agency. There is need for change in the structures operated in the oversight of the inland fisheries sector and a move towards a more effective, accountable and transparent management system to allow the sector to reach its full potential. I am committed to the restructuring of the sector, and I recognise there will be significant challenges in bringing it about.
The Government remains committed to the conservation imperative and halting the decline in salmon stocks. We will continue to build on the success of the measures introduced in 2007 for the continued protection of wild salmon stock. The €25 million salmon hardship scheme directed at commercial salmon fishing licence holders has now closed to applicants. More than 1,000 applicants, including 127 in the Foyle area, have claimed payments under the scheme, ranging in value from under €1,200 up to €190,000. Added to this, the €5 million community support scheme launched in March 2008 is designed to assist the development of additional economic opportunities for the labour force previously employed in the ancillary sectors of the commercial salmon industry. An amount of €16 million has been provided under subhead F2 for payments under these two schemes in 2008.
Almost €1 million is provided under subhead G1 to fund other organisational initiatives. Some €250,000 under subhead G2 will support projects in the Department's non-commercial State agencies, to assist in their efforts to implement the strategic change and modernisation agenda.
The Estimate allocations in 2008 are clearly focused on my Department's key policy priorities. These policies will be delivered through sectoral programmes that support the key underlying objectives of increased competitiveness, sustainable development and fostering innovation. I hope the annual output statement will contribute to the committee's deliberations on the Estimates and give members a better overview of the complex and diverse range of activities carried out by my Department. I commend the vote to the committee.