Results 26,981-27,000 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: This is going back to the approach of not delivering fibre to the premises but instead delivering it to a limited number of locations. That is not the commitment that the Deputy or I want.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: While the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has a huge duty to challenge and that is its job, the Deputy and I know, as former Ministers for Education, that the Department of Finance challenged and opposed the idea of free second level education but few now would say that was a bad decision.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy's party rightly takes pride in the fact that it was a proper decision and it was taken for courageous reasons because we wanted to ensure that everyone got equal opportunity.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: In the same way this is a decision being taken by the Government to ensure that people of rural Ireland-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: -----get the same equal opportunity to use modern technologies as their urban colleagues.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Let me be very clear that this company has proven experience and passed all of the pre-qualification tests. This company has built 16 greenfield telecommunication operations and-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: -----has rolled out 24 national telecommunication infrastructure projects. It has experienced executives who held senior positions in both Irish and international telecommunications companies. It will use the very same subcontractors that each of the other providers rolling out broadband services use.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: This is a robust bid.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: In terms of the white elephant allegation, we have built in very careful contract terms. There will be very close governance of this company. There will be clawbacks should it be more profitable than expected. Some people fear it will be more profitable than is projected and if that occurs, there will be clawbacks to protect the taxpayer. If the take-up is less than anticipated, the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: In terms of the sum of the equity involved, I am not going to prejudice the final signing off on a contract for a project for which we have waited a very considerable time by revealing a figure that, as Deputies can see from the redacted documents, is confidential.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: This is a project for which people in rural Ireland have waited a long time. We have evaluated it extremely carefully, with 800 hours spent by officials in my Department with the various bidders to ensure that we are getting best value in this project. The goal of this project is to provide access for 1.1 million people, comprising 68% of the farms in this country, 100,000 small businesses...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: -----we left broadband provision up to the commercial world but it is not happening for a quarter of our people. That is why the State must intervene and provide substantial State support for it to happen. The idea of comparing our level of support for a service that is not economic to provide by commercial operators with the equity being put in is a false comparison. We have to put in...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Let me be very clear - this company will not get €3 billion. That is a completely distorted way of presenting this. We are employing this company to design, build and operate-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: -----the roll-out of fibre which will be placed on rented poles, by and large. It will be built on the existing network. That is designed to minimise the cost to the Exchequer. That will provide a resource, which the company will sell on, as a wholesaler, to retailers to provide service to those who connect to it. This is the State deciding that it needs an infrastructure to include rural...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: There is no cheaper way and no better technology than this to provide the sort of service that the Deputy wants to see.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Let me say one last thing. The Deputy appears to favour the concession model, whereby this would revert to the State at the end of the period. In terms of the assessment of the deliverability of this project, that was assessed as being a far greater risk than the model we are now delivering.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I may not be able to answer all of the questions the Deputy has asked. It is my understanding that the Low Pay Commission, which is an independent body, has been asked to look at this issue. It produced a report on the matter of tips and gratuities. It met representatives of the adjudication and inspection divisions of the Workplace Relations Commission last year. The WRC has stated that,...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: To take up the Deputy's point, there is no doubt that if the Minister can secure a sectoral agreement it will have the force of law. Under law, if such an agreement can be put together it will be enforceable. That would be the ideal outcome. The Minister is working to secure such an agreement. She has also indicated that she is writing to companies, including that which the Deputy...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. If I am not mistaken, these schemes were introduced by Ruairí Quinn during the early part of my time in this House. Their value and importance has been immense. There is no doubt that they have been primarily seen as labour market interventions to activate and keep people close to the labour market at times of high unemployment. The Minister...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (8 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I assure the Deputy that this is not a problem confined to rural areas. The same problems are affecting valuable community schemes across all of our constituencies which are running into difficulties. There are other employment opportunities for people. It is hard to get supervisors to support these schemes.