Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Collins for his questions. With regard to the charities, we all know the importance of the charities sector. I refer not only to the large health-based and education-based charities. There are charities in every town and village and they do valuable work. Unfortunately, there has been bad press regarding some of the charities over recent years, and this has led to a number of changes. The Deputy mentioned that small community groups and elderly people are worried. The statutory consultative panel on the governance of charitable organisations was established in May 2017 to consider how administration, management and governance can be approved and to make recommendations to the regulator on codes of conduct. A public consultation process is currently under way and is due to run until December. Those concerned were in Galway recently. I can obtain a list for the Deputy of everywhere else in the country that will be involved.

We do not want to scare any elderly people involved in working in the charities sector. We want a measured response. As the charities regulator has said, we want a measured response to risk. Therefore, he is dealing initially with the bigger charities in respect of which complaints are made and where there is information given to him about a specific charity in respect of which there are concerns.

On the issue of funds that might be available, each charity should have a founding charter. The charities regulator will be able to step in if there is an issue with a charity to ensure funds that are available are being disbursed in the correct manner.

Irish people are very generous with their time and money. It is a positive step to ensure that whenever they give money to a charity, there will be regulation and good governance. I met the charities regulator recently as part of my new role. There is a lot of work done on this. I stated that the very least people expect regarding every charity is to be able to consult a website to find its accounts and information on its CEO or Accounting Officer. That information should be available. It gives comfort to people and demonstrates that everything is being done correctly and within the law. As I stated, people are very generous and we need to know that their money is put to good use.

With regard to rural broadband, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is the main Department responsible. What we were doing in our Department is funding rural broadband officers through every local authority. They are the points of contact for the telecommunications sector and people who have issues and complaints. They play a key role daily in the improvement of telecommunications and broadband services in general by assisting through engagement with a number of key commercial stakeholders, through participation in the regional action groups facilitated by the Department and through engagement with local communities and businesses. The officers comprise a dedicated point of contact with the local authority for telecommunications operators. They are involved at present as part of the mobile phone and broadband task force, which arose through the programme for Government discussions. The Deputy was involved in the early days himself along with others to advocate on behalf of those in rural Ireland. The rural broadband officers have emerged from this process. They are very important.

We recently met telecommunications groups and they believe the rural broadband officers are important with regard to their programme and assisting in identifying State lands that can be used for mobile phone masts. The matter of exemptions for telecommunications masts concerns the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. There is legislation in this regard that is quite outdated. Those concerned are seeking to update it to allow for a greater level of exemption for more modern telecommunications infrastructure. I believe the officers have a very important role to play.

The Minister mentioned the Ludgate facility in Skibbereen. Recently we had an AEC meeting in the Building Block in Sligo town. It is part of Sligo town but obviously serves a rural community. It is an innovation hub and centre for people to come to. It is a private facility. There is a lot being done on the rolling out of broadband.

On the larger issues concerning the national broadband plan, on 26 September last there was an initial bid involving two companies, namely Eir and Enet. They are being assessed. The process is slower than one would like but we do not want to do anything that will end up causing further delays or to have undue preference given to any company. We need to ensure everything goes through methodically. I appreciate that the process might be slower than we would wish but we need to ensure it does not give rise to court challenges that might cause delays in the future. Considerable work was done on mapping the country, down to the level of individual houses. On broadband.gov.ieone can determine what houses have been served under the initial commitment contract with Eir. Some 300,000 houses have had broadband rolled out to them. The main complaint received in my office is from houses that are close to the areas where Eir is rolling out broadband. The broadband might be going up a certain road, but not to every house on it. The broadband officers in each local authority area are taking note of such complaints. Where they can make a valid case — where, for example, there is a school or business close to the end of the broadband line being rolled out by Eir — it can be examined by Eir.

We want to become the first country where 100% of rural houses are connected to broadband. It is not as if we are playing catch-up with any other country. We have particular challenges arising from the low-density population. We want to see every rural house connected.

Deputy Burke made a number of points on the Dormant Account Fund. A review of the scheme was due within three years of its being adopted, namely by December 2016. It has not been carried out. There was a review in regard to the work programme for the period 2017 to 2019 but the full review that the Comptroller and Auditor General might have recommended has not been carried out. We intend to carry it out as part of our work programme.

One of the issues is that responsibility for the dormant accounts has been transferred to three Departments in 18 months. We now have responsibility. I hope my Department is the permanent home for it. With regard to the fund itself, €509 million has been transferred thereto since its establishment in 2003. The net transfers to the fund after repayments where account holders make claims have averaged approximately €26 million per year since 2004. An action plan was agreed with the Department and signed off by the Minister, Deputy Michael Ring, before the transfer of functions. Under this agreement, Departments can seek to gain access to the funds for disbursement.

Recently, I signed off on access for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. A number of other bodies will be making submissions to me for signing off as well. There is a pot of money available and strict guidelines over where it can be spent, for example, disadvantaged communities and educational disadvantage. We will await further claims from Departments for disbursement moneys.