Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I can tell Mr. Hendrick that there is one that is not on that list but should be, namely, Cloonakilla National School in south Roscommon. It is getting 4 Mbps at the moment, but it is blue on the national broadband plan, which means it is, in theory, able to get a high-speed broadband connection through the Open Eir network. Funnily enough, the houses on either side of the school are part of the NBI network and have had their connections made. The fibre is outside the door of the school but, for some bizarre reason, it is the only blue dot in a 1 km radius and, therefore, NBI cannot provide it with a connection. How this has ended up happening, I do not know. I know whatever has gone on here is the problem of the Department of Education, but Mr. Hendrick stated only three schools are remaining, yet that school, with hundreds of pupils and on the edge of the town of Athlone, is not getting a basic service at the moment because there is a wrong colour on the national broadband plan map. Mr. Hendrick might come back to us on the three schools and somebody might let me know what is happening with Cloonakilla National School in Athlone. It is not good enough that schools are being left like this.

Turning to the Department of Rural and Community Development, Mr. O’Brien stated the broadband connection points are now supporting communities in using digital services to provide local activities in rural areas, and that is commendable. We need to look at the broadband connection points and see how we can adapt and reuse them for other purposes as fibre-optic cable is being deployed.

The Department is looking at new opportunities. One of the big problems that this committee deals with on a regular basis is the levels of poverty among one-parent families, through the Department of Social Protection. It is a big issue for the Minister for Social Protection. Microsoft is involved in a project in Norway at the moment where cybersecurity skills are provided to migrant women thus giving them high-value employment. The great advantages of having a job in cybersecurity is that it can be done remotely, at different times in the day and it may suit child care, etc. We know that there is a huge level of under employment among one-parent families and there is a huge level of poverty among one-parent families. Here seems to be an ideal opportunity, in certain circumstances, to give people, mainly women, the opportunity of high-value employment while meeting the huge deficit of people with cybersecurity skills in the sector. We have the infrastructure in place to provide training in digital hubs and broadband connection points. Is there an opportunity for the Department of Rural and Community Development, working with the Department of Social Protection and the likes of Microsoft, to develop an initiative to address poverty that can be a win:win situation in both rural and urban Ireland? I will leave that with the witnesses.

Innovative digital projects have been mentioned. As the officials will know, I tabled a Dáil question asking when the next round of funding will be made available, specifically for a project in County Roscommon that has gone through phase 1 and now has huge potential to be upscaled but we need additional funding to get the project off the ground. When will the next round of funding for digital innovation projects and specifically for the scaling up of these projects?

On digital hubs, the Connected Hubs website is fantastic app. I am sure most of us use it when we travel to have connectivity, conduct meetings and so forth. However, there are only 330 of the 710 remote working hubs in the country on this website. Why have the rest of them not joined? I ask because public funding has been used to provide hubs so they should made available to the public. If a hub is not part of the Connected Hubs website then it is very hard for people to know that a hub is available. I see on the website that there are 29 connected hubs in my own county of Roscommon and just eight of them are on the Connected Hubs website. In County Galway it is nearly a 50:50 split where 28 hubs are listed on the Connected Hubs website but 31 hubs are not. What is the Department doing to ensure that all of the hubs are on the website and available to the public, not just the local community but people travelling, visitors and tourists visiting these areas? I ask because it is important that is made available.

I have another question for the Department about the work done by the broadband task force. What progress has been made to utilise public assets for the deployment of wireless broadband networks? Eurona is a provider based in County Roscommon. Eurona has a very proactive policy of taking customers off their wireless service and putting them on to the fibre service as soon as it becomes available. Eurona has equipment that was used for wireless networks that is now surplus to requirement. There are more peripheral areas in my county and in every other county that are at the tail end of the deployment of the national broadband plan that could get a wireless service in the short term if the equipment was redeployed. The wireless operators are telling me that the costs for them to source a site, put power into that site and erect equipment means the benefit would be quite limited. Water reservoirs, for example, are on isolated and high sites that usually have a power supply. Such sites are ideal locations to deploy wireless equipment in the short term and should be made available free of charge to any wireless operator that wants to provide a service and extend the existing wireless network pending the deployment of the fibre network. It does not make financial sense for wireless operators to invest in new capital because that will have a limited life span. If local authorities and the public infrastructure could be used then it would facilitate the provision of a basic service in areas pending the deployment of the fibre network. What is being done to facilitate that in the short term pending the delivery of the fibre network?

I have a question for the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications on Eir's legacy copper network. Eir's representatives are talking to the regulator about removing its copper wire as soon as the fibre network is deployed. We have two cohorts. We have the people in the reddish brown area whom I spoke about earlier. They have been abandoned because of the EU Commission's definition of high-speed broadband. There are also other people who have copper wires and maybe they are older people who do not see the benefit of fibre cable. What is the timeline for the removal of the copper wire? What will be done for customers who have a legal requirement at the moment for a phoneline? As Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, I requested that that same legal requirement would be provided for broadband as well into the future. Is that now in place? Will those customers be able to access the service in a smooth transition but at the same price so they are not funding the additional costs into the future?

My final question is probably more an issue for the regulator but I ask the witnesses to indicate whether there will be a cost involved for the removal of the cable. It is very valuable cable. I would hate to see telephone customers being charged for the removal of the cables when it is very valuable material that could be used for other purposes.