Results 20,641-20,660 of 21,588 for speaker:Denis Naughten

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: The final two questions are for the Department of Rural and Community Development. The first is for Mr. Hendrick and his team. To clarify, is Senator Wall talking about people whose neighbours are able to get a fibre connection but they are not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: Does Mr. Hendrick want to come back in on that? I will have a similar question on it in a few minutes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: Before we move on to the Department, I want to concentrate for a minute on the issue Senator Wall has raised and deal with both responses we have got. I will give an example. A constituent of mine placed an order in May. I have been on to NBI, which has been very helpful on this matter, but as far as it is concerned, the order was registered on 2 August. Clearly, the system whereby an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: They are still going back and forth at the moment and that is hugely frustrating for people.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: Second, what is the actual figure at the moment within the ten working days?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: What about the other 20%? That is a big cohort of people, where one fifth of them are not within the target. Is there another KPI for that up to 90%, 95% or 100%? Are those being abandoned with the concentration on delivering 80% within ten days? In fairness, based on the feedback from Eir to us, 80% is pretty doable within ten days. The big problem is the other 20%. These are the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: Can Mr. Hendrick provide to the committee the KPIs for up to 60 days and what is being achieved on those? He may not have those to hand but could he furnish those particular figures to the committee-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: -----because they are the issues that are coming up?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: Is Senator Wall happy with that element and if he is I will then go to the Department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: I call Mr. O'Brien to speak now, please.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: If the local authorities were informed that the money could be lost for the staff, they would be very quick to come back to the Department and let it know what the current state of play is on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: Just on the connections and speaking about the local authorities, we had at the start of this project, particularly in the roll-out of the fibre cable, difficulty in dealing with challenges in some local authorities in terms of the Department. I know that some of the sub-contractors to NBI refused to tender for projects in some counties because of a difficulty in engaging with local...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: As regards the systems in place, I will make two points. First, based on what the witnesses are giving here in evidence, is there merit in looking at the survey and design aspect of this and maybe the engineer who is going out doing the survey bringing a few rods with him and seeing if there is a problem with it? We are talking about 20% of customers not getting connected. Some 21% of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: That is grand in general, but we are after hearing in evidence here that there are still, to this day, some outliers in that regard. My question to you, Mr. O'Donoghue, is what specifically is happening as regards those outliers to address the blockages and delays there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: I accept that. As regards connections to homes, there will always be unique challenges, but that is not my question. The evidence we have received is that there are still a couple of local authorities that are not as efficient in general as the local authorities in turning around these projects. My question is what the Department is doing to ensure that we are all playing on a level...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: That is fair enough. May I suggest, then, that that engagement takes place-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: -----and that the issues involved are bottomed out and that we get a report back to this committee on that specific issue and confirmation that these issues are resolved? I do not want to name anyone. All I want to do is make sure that every single citizen in this country is treated in the exact same manner regarding the delivery of this network. That is our objective.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: Good. That is positive and should be the case, considering that the taxpayer is paying a substantial amount of money for broadband officers and putting in an additional €2 million to address blockages. We do not want to see this not being properly utilised as public funding in some local authorities. I ask for clarification on that. Have we dealt with all of Senator Wall's questions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: Back to your broadband officer, Senator Wall.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Denis Naughten: I will ask both Departments to respond. Before I do, though, I will say that it is because of the mobile phone and broadband task force that we actually have the map with its various shades of brown. Sadly, there are some weak brown areas in my constituency. I call Mr. Mulligan, Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Whelan.