Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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4. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on the poor broadband service and deteriorating mobile coverage in County Tipperary; and the measures he will take to improve same. [24178/18]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The broadband service is non-existent in many areas, as the Minister knows, and the mobile coverage on all networks has become a complete joke. In my county, people could have good conversations ten years ago but now they cannot make or continue any conversation due to the calls dropping out. It is appalling.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The national broadband plan aims to ensure high-speed broadband access to every premises in Ireland, regardless of location. In April 2016 approximately 38,500 premises in County Tipperary had access to high-speed broadband. As of March 2018 that has gone up to 40,500 premises in County Tipperary with access to high-speed broadband, with a further 13,000 to be served under Eir’s ongoing rural fibre deployment. Some 30,000 premises will be served under the final phase of the State-led intervention in the national broadband plan.

I included in the programme for Government a commitment to a mobile phone and broadband task force, which works with the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, and stakeholders to alleviate some of the mobile coverage and broadband deficits. The following initiatives are evidence of the effectiveness of the task force in bringing forward proposals that will enhance mobile phone service quality, particularly in rural areas such as County Tipperary. They include the appointment of a broadband officer in every county to act as a single point of contact in local authorities for their communities, the removal of development contributions for telecommunications infrastructure and the revision of exempted development regulations by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for the rollout of 4G and 5G broadband services.

My Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development, together with local authorities, have worked with telecoms companies to achieve greater consensus around site selection for telecoms infrastructure. Both Departments also worked with local authorities to map blackspots and identify infrastructure which could be used to provide additional coverage. I know Tipperary has submitted a list to our Departments in that regard. ComReg is developing a composite national coverage map which will, together with its work on handset testing, better inform consumer choice. The release by ComReg of the 3.6 GHz radio spectrum band, following my authorisation of this, will increase mobile capacity by 86%. In County Tipperary Transport Infrastructure Ireland has completed significant duct installation along the M8 motorway between Cashel and Mitchelstown. In the months ahead the task force will continue to take actions that will further improve mobile phone and broadband coverage throughout Ireland, including County Tipperary.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I know the Minister appreciates how fundamentally important this matter is, not only to households but to the economic rejuvenation of rural regions and the very survival of small rural businesses. I note that, at the beginning of the month, the Minister gave an interview to the Irish Independentin which he was asked whether we should have a universal service obligation for broadband. In addition, he recently welcomed the launch of the EU Wi-Fi initiative, which means public spaces across the country will get free Wi-Fi hotspots and money will be made available for this. I acknowledge these good and positive developments. The problem is we have been listening to announcements like this for years. I was at many of those talks and we all fought for these services but the situation is now worse. I do not know why the Government laid the duct between Cashel and Mitchelstown because there is nothing in it at the moment but water off the mountains, and there is no mobile service. The national broadband plan has been in the pipeline since 2009, including when Pat Rabbitte was Minister. People are sick of announcements. Students cannot fill out their CAO forms, farmers cannot do their business online and businesses cannot operate and have to move from rural areas. It is not acceptable, as the Minister and I both know.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The time is up.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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There were announcements followed by announcements but we then had the loss of a competing company. I have asked before that the Minister would buy back Eir because there is no one to deliver this on the ground and we have an antiquated system. We cannot do business either on the road or at home.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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There is no one more frustrated with what is going on across this country at the moment in regard to mobile phone and broadband coverage than myself. I was the one who got this written into the programme for Government specifically in regard to mobile and wireless broadband. I know the situation at first hand. As Minister for Communications, Environment and Climate Action, I find it frustrating that I have to turn off data on my phone to make phone calls. It is not good enough that people across the country have to do this to make phone calls. Let us remember there has been a phenomenal increase in the data demand on our mobile network and many people in rural areas are dependent on that at the moment.

Things are improving, however. We are delivering fibre broadband and that will ramp up later this year or early next year with the final phase of the national broadband plan. We are working with the telecoms companies to examine how to address mobile blackspots. The resources are being put in and the spectrum has been given to those companies. What it means is that the industry now has far more space to carry data and this allows it to improve the 4G services that are available across the country, which will improve the quality of mobile services.

We are determined to do this. The Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, and myself are working very closely in regard to the deployment of the national broadband plan to put initial community hotspots in place so that, if people cannot access high-speed broadband in their homes, they should at least be able to access it in a warm location, such as a local community centre.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I acknowledge and share the Minister's frustration. My own iPhone has no data and I cannot make or hold calls whereas I could do that ten years ago. A con is being perpetrated on the public. We are paying fees and taxpayers' money is going into this. Fees are being waived while the masts are going up but there is no service. It is like liquorice allsorts, where you pick out the nicest one. They are turning off the mobile service to boost the broadband. It is a farce in rural Ireland. I can pick ten areas between Cahir and Dublin where I lose service completely on a national motorway, never mind it happening on the highways and byways in places like Mullinahone, where people cannot do business and families are begging me to make it possible for them to work from home. This would cut down emissions and make life better for people in every way but they cannot do it. Mullinahone, Hollyford and the Glen of Aherlow are no-go areas and it is the same in many areas of Clonmel, a major town in the county, and right up to Thurles. The service is not there and it is slipping by the day. We are being conned by con artists who are telling us they are doing this. They are getting money for jam. They are getting money under false pretences because the service is not there.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I advise the Deputy not to use terms like con artist. I call the Minister.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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There is a significant problem. Deputy Eugene Murphy and I travel from Roscommon through places like Ballymurrray, Knockcroghery, Kiltoom and Kilbeggan, and we drop calls on the way to Dublin. It is frustrating and that is why we are putting in the ducting-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Why is it going backwards?

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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That is why we are putting in the ducting on the motorways, where 100 km of ducting has been put in by Transport Infrastructure Ireland over the last 12 months. It is currently working with the telecoms companies on the siting of antennae along those motorways and on the national primary network. However, for me and for the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, that is not good enough. We want to address this issue in rural communities as well, not just on the motorways and the national road network. That is why we are working with the local authorities, such as Tipperary County Council, which has presented us with a list of blackspots, and the local authorities in Galway and Roscommon, and working with the companies to see how we can physically address the issues in those locations in the short term.