Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2021
65. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the expected timeframe for the reconvening of the mobile phone and broadband task force; if she will report on the membership, structure and specific actions of the task force and the initial engagements that are due to take place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60213/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am looking for detail on the mobile phone and broadband task force, which the Minister mentioned earlier. I want to know about its membership and structure, what specific actions are intended for it to take and any initial engagements that are due to take place. We all know the difficulties there are at this point in time with the roll-out of the national broadband plan, NBP. Even in a best-case scenario, we know provision in a number of areas is going to be very late to be delivered upon and we need to look at interim solutions. This body could not only be a clearing house for industry but could also do some of the necessary due diligence work in terms of offering people alternatives in the interim.
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Officials from my Department have been working closely with colleagues in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in recent months to finalise arrangements for the reconvening of the mobile phone and broadband task force. The previous task force was very successful in delivering on a wide range of important actions and I am keen to build on that success. It is intended to convene a meeting of the new task force at the earliest possible date. Together with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, I have written to the key stakeholders who will make up the new task force to arrange an initial meeting.
With regard to the membership of the task force, we discovered over the course of its predecessor's term that having the right organisations at the table, represented by the right people, is key to achieving progress. The new body will include input from relevant Departments, the local government sector and private industry. A full membership can be published once arrangements for the initial meeting have been finalised.
In order to develop a detailed work plan for the new task force, I have asked the relevant stakeholders to consider potential actions that can be delivered in a number of strategically important thematic areas. It is intended that the new body's work programme will include actions to address issues such as outdoor mobile coverage, planning and licensing issues, asset mapping and access to infrastructure. I look forward to building on the success of the previous task force and working with the members of the new task force. It will convene at the earliest possible date before the year's end. In fact, I understand that meeting will take place next week. The task force will take on fewer actions than its predecessor but those actions will be more complex and impactful, requiring more time, resources and collaboration.
I really welcome the news that the task force will meet next week, which is vital. We can guess the different actions it will need to do. If it sets out with a limited scope in terms of the number of jobs it has to do and if it can deliver on them, that will be welcome. A vital part of that will be dealing with interim solutions for areas that may be waiting five, six or seven years at this point for delivery of the national broadband roll-out. It is very difficult to talk about National Broadband Ireland, NBI, without dealing with the issues that have arisen at this time. I accept that the Minister cannot answer this point but there needs to be a forum in which the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and possibly the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, can deal with the questions that are out there regarding the ownership of Oak Hill Advisors, which is the main body behind Granahan McCourt, and the fact that we seem to have almost a Gordon Gekko-type scenario in terms of those controlling the delivery of rural broadband. I welcome what the Minister said in regard to the mobile phone and broadband task force.
In fairness, the one thing I can say about the national broadband plan is that the boots are on the ground. I see the vans around the place and I say "keep going" because we want to get it rolled out as quickly as we can. I am sure the Deputy is aware of the broadband officers in the local authorities, who have done a fantastic job. They were appointed in 2016 and have worked with the different providers across the board. They have managed to ensure the broadband connection points, BCPs, were delivered in many remote parts of the country, which would otherwise not have happened.
I want to say thanks to them because they did a wonderful job. We were able to support them with funding to roll out those broadband connection points in small halls across rural areas and they have helped connect and break down some of the issues the providers may have had in getting the different licences. These were simple roadblocks that they were able to clear.
Planning and licensing will be major issues, and they obviously need to be done. Significant work has been done by broadband officers. I will come at this from two ends. There is a necessity to look at planning laws and such. National Broadband Ireland, NBI, is looking for the resource to be available, particularly if it gets to the point of an acceleration, where people would have the knowledge of planning permissions and road opening licences. Those would be road engineers and those with knowledge of planning, and they are very necessary.
My fear is not the NBI and its operations, although I think we need interim solutions, but that the financial arrangements behind it will lead to difficulties. The due diligence might not have been done on whether Granahan McCourt had the financial arrangements to deliver what we need. I accept this question needs to be answered by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan and the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth.
Will this task force have any role in the security of mobile phones? How certain is the Minister that her phone, my phone and the Cathaoirleach’s phone are not being hacked or tapped at the moment, that someone is not listening into what she is doing and saying about where she is and who she is talking to, or the fact she is sitting beside the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O’Brien, could not easily be identified and so forth? Has she had any discussions, or does she intend to have any discussions, with the Ministers, Deputies Eamon Ryan or Coveney, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, or the Minister, Deputy McEntee, with respect to the security of our mobile phone network?
On the broadband task force, the broadband officers will be the one point of contact for the providers in the area. They can direct them to who they need to because they will know the story. They should know the story in the local authorities and, I have to say, they have been very good at doing that. The new actions the task force will look at when it convenes for its first meeting on 15 December are permits, consents and planning permission, as the Deputy highlighted, mapping and registers of assets, geographic mobile coverage, consumer information, and innovation and proof of concept projects. Those are the sort of things we will be looking at. They are more complex, more knotty, as they say, and they are more time consuming.
On whether my phone, the Deputy’s phone, or anyone else’s phone is secure, that would be a matter for cybersecurity. It does not fall under the broadband task force.
