Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The mobile phone and broadband task force was re-established on 15 December 2021 with an inaugural meeting of State bodies co-chaired by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth. This meeting included senior representatives of a number of Departments and State bodies. This first meeting allowed the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to set out their priorities for the coming period, which include improving mobile phone coverage in rural areas; examining issues around planning permissions and licensing for, and sharing of, telecoms infrastructure; the use of public assets for telecoms purposes; and improving the quality and availability of information for consumers of telecoms services and products.

On 27 April 2022, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, co-chaired the second meeting of the reconvened task force. This meeting was attended by the full task force membership, including representatives of the telecommunications industry. This meeting allowed for discussion of the draft year one work programme and the terms of reference. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, were both impressed with the level of commitment shown by members to the ambitions of the task force and the creative nature of the proposed solutions.

As the work programme moves towards implementation, officials from this Department and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications will continue to engage with each member of the task force bilaterally to ensure progress on the actions. It is anticipated the next meeting of the task force will take place in September 2022 with an annual stakeholder forum to take place in spring 2023.

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