Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

This question relates a lot to section 12, not just specifically to my amendments. Yesterday, I asked the Minister of State about section 12 and the issues around licensing, utilities, and the digging up of roads and the damage that is done. Reinstatements are done, but after the temporary reinstatement, when the permanent reinstatement is done, often that is defective a year or two later. You can see that the trench has somewhat collapsed, and then the local authority comes back and does a full resurface of the road at the expense of the local authority and the public. This is an ongoing issue. With this licensing for roads to be dug up, the ultimate cost of properly reinstating the road far too often ends up being picked up by the public and the local authority, albeit a year or two later, after the so-called permanent reinstatement is done by the utility or the company. In general, what provisions are there in section 12 to deal with that? Are there any new provisions to deal with it in this Bill, compared with previous legislation? It is certainly a problem and something that is costing significant amounts.

I refer specifically to my amendments in this grouping and the default grant of the licence in subsection 12(8)(b), which refers to "overground electronic communications infrastructure, or ... any associated physical infrastructure". Can the Minister of State clarify that? For example, we were talking yesterday about the issues of phone boxes being turned into advertising structures, perhaps with a Wi-Fi spot included. That would be overground, it would be electronic, it would be communications and it would be infrastructure. Where is the definition of overground electronic communications infrastructure? It is mentioned in subsection 12(2) all right, but I do not see a definition with it.