Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 November 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

National Development Plan 2021-2030: Discussion

Photo of Ruairi Ó MurchúRuairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I will continue with some of the questions and back and forth the Chair and Minister were engaged in.

On section 254 guidelines, it would be fair to say that National Broadband Ireland, NBI, said the streamlining has improved things. I ask the Minister to correct me if I make a mistake, but NBI said what it really wanted in a perfect world was a different planning permission system similar to what operates in the North. In the North, poles or whatever are okayed, and if slight changes are required, people do not have to reapply. The project is signed off at the end while making sure that due diligence is carried out.

I am aware of the Attorney General's review. Maybe if I have time later on, I will have some specific questions on that. The NBI referred to the Covid catch-up, which may involve a timeline for March and, in particular, acceleration. Everyone has used the term from seven years to five years. It outlines what the NBI would require and it referred to certain local authorities being better than others. It said what it really required was a resource at local authority level, which would not involve a broadband person who then contacts a road engineer or planner. Rather, it could be a single person who would be au fait with the situation and have some level of authority regarding planning and road engineering. I will not mention the council, but it said in one particular council this has already happened. If that is the case, it is something we should look at expediting. It said it will become critical at the point in time when the acceleration plan is put in place. If the Minister could comment on that, I would appreciate it.

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