Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I take Deputy Coveney's point that the reply, in going into the issue of overground-underground cabling, possibly extends the intent of the original questions. Apologies for that.

On the issue of timing, that first audit is only one part of the series of work that must be carried out. That will be carried out quickly, I would hope within a short period before the end of this year. There are other complex issues in terms of how one arranges, prices and fits in the access to an expanding private-sector network and how one connects it in a most useful way. The audit is a first crucial step but it is only one step in a series of measures through which one must work in a highly complex market where there are a number of different operators and where the need for access would vary tremendously depending on different commercial needs.

Such access already exists in certain instances. If I can cite the bus infrastructure in Dublin where we have put in bus corridors, at that time ducting was put in place and that has proved hugely useful in terms of providing common access. Therefore, we are not starting without a base of experience of how it can work.

In this project we want to provide a seamless connection across a range of different State infrastructure and a one-stop-shop means an operator need not go to the Railway Procurement Agency in one instance and the National Roads Authority in another. Those various pieces of ducting that each of those authorities have connect together.

That will take a certain amount of time and co-ordination, but it is something we want to have completed within a year and have up and running next year. That is the target I have set my Department.

See this speech in context