Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Department's brief is very wide, covering communications, energy and natural resources. I am concerned by a number of issues, one of which is broadband, which was already referred to by Deputy Fleming and Senator Mooney. Where are we at with the broadband project? I note that €275 million was allocated on the capital side but the Minister's predecessor said that it would cost somewhere in the region of €500 million to do a decent job of connecting everybody to the broadband network by 2018 or 2020. I have raised with the Minister on the floor of the Dáil the enormous level of concern and frustration with the patchiness of the network. Nobody seems to be in charge of this and ComReg does not seem to be taking a hands-on approach. A new mast which was erected recently in Meelin in north Cork to improve broadband services is now interfering with the already patchy broadband services in the area. This is causing enormous frustration. Young people are now making decisions about whether to continue living in rural Ireland because of poor broadband coverage, not to mention the issues around planning which seem to have taken on a life of their own.

Anything that can be done to stop people living in rural Ireland is being done but that is a different debate.

What stage is the broadband programme at now? We were expecting something back from the European Commission in mid-2015 in respect of the state aids programme. What has happened to that? What stage are the tendering documents at? How advanced is the process for State intervention to ensure that 30% of the people in this country have an adequate broadband service? On Deputy Fleming’s point about returning emigrants, people have been used to living with these facilities. It is almost like people returning in the 1970s, deciding to do so based on whether they would have running water. That is how serious it is.

It now transpires that €38 million was spent on Eircode rather than €27 million. Officials from the Department and Eircode and everybody else had confirmed to the committee that it would be €27 million. Where and how was that allowed to go out of kilter?

There is huge scope and huge challenges in the broadcasting sector. Various lobby groups from local radio stations have come in looking for their slice of the licensing fee cake. Is the Minister satisfied that the taxpayer is getting value for money from the licence fee being handed to RTE and for the €58 million which is given through the Department of Social Protection for the free licence for the elderly on top of what is being collected from householders? The local radio stations really serve their communities in urban and rural Ireland where the national broadcaster has not served anywhere beyond the M50 for several generations.

I commend the Department's work on the Green Paper on Energy Policy in Ireland. This committee has discussed the raw material for gas and so forth. Its cost has dropped in the world market but that is not reflected directly in the price. Does the Minister think the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, is properly resourced by legislation to adequately address the issues in the energy market? I believe it is not and a major legislative change is needed. The Minister mentioned some transfer of funds from one subhead to another for the warmer homes scheme. It has been very beneficial but a massive amount of work needs to be done on the scheme. There are certain socio-economic groups which suffer from fuel poverty. There needs to be a massive concerted effort. Some local authorities ran pilot schemes with the warmer home scheme for their housing stock but that was on a small scale. A massive amount of energy and money is being lost. I encourage the Minister to ensure that the warmer homes scheme is even more adequately funded.

What is the Minister’s opinion of solar panel farms such as those used on the Continent? What kind of money is the Department spending to support research into them?