Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this initiative and thank the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon. It is timely and welcome. It hope it will have a positive impact on many farms across the country. I ask the Minister of State if he will do two things for me regarding the work he has done for the Minister for Finance. Will he chat with the Ministers for Finance and Health about some of the 1,500 people with missing limbs who are on the waiting list for the disabled drivers' scheme and are waiting for the primary medical certificate? It will be some time next year before those farmers and non-farmers get an appointment for that assessment, because of a suspension last June, and another 150 people a month are being added to that, including farmers because of farm accidents. The Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, might use his influence to put the squeeze on the two Ministers about that issue. He can facilitate that by supporting amendment No. 82 when we come to it later.

I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, to have a word with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, ComReg and the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform about the roll-out of 5G across the country. Farmers work on their own in isolated areas and having access to mobile phone coverage is vitally important. Sadly, every mobile phone licence that was issued in this country to date has been issued solely on the basis of population coverage rather than geographic coverage, which means that farmers who are working out on their land on their own have no way of communicating with someone else to get the services and support that they need if they have an accident. I ask the Minister to engage with ComReg and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to ensure that the next round of 5G licences is issued on a geographic basis and provides universal geographic coverage across the country so that when farmers find themselves in a predicament where their lives or health are at risk, they are in a position where they can contact someone or the emergency services.

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