Results 27,281-27,300 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Among the alternatives considered following the submission of the final tender in 2018 was the possibility of reacquiring eir or specific network assets owned by eir. A high level indicative analysis based on information available in the marketplace was performed by officials in my Department and by NewERA. Both analyses concluded that the costs to acquire eir would likely exceed the subsidy...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: A minute of the meeting in July 2018 was published last year and was amongst the documentation made available to the Process Auditor. Neither I nor my officials have met with the individual named.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Expenditure (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The total value of payments made in relation to the National Broadband Plan (NBP) in 2019 is €953,120.57 (including VAT). This expenditure includes the cost of corporate and economic advice, technical support and network design, the cost of legal and environmental advice. These services were procured by way of competitive tender. In addition, my Department has staff and other...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 526 and 527 together. The availability of high speed broadband to every home in the country will unlock the door to equal participation in digital transformation which is already transforming our lives and will continue to bring fresh opportunities which will be crucial to operations in Irelands regions My Department commissioned a comprehensive Cost...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Administration (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The European Commission published detailed State Aid Guidelines for broadband in 2013, which the current process under the National Broadband Plan has followed. Member States have a wide margin of discretion in designing interventions to support broadband roll-out and choosing an appropriate intervention and financing model, subject to notification under State aid rules as appropriate. The...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The costs arising from connecting new fibre assets to Metropolitan Area Networks and national backhaul networks can be broken down into various components, including optical fibre cable of various fibre counts and infrastructure rental covering poles, ducts, and co-location space. Some details of these costs are set out below.NBI have proposed to rent infrastructure from eir and enet as part...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: In relation to the National Broadband Plan my Department commissioned a comprehensive Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) in line with the Public Spending Code (PSC). A CBA Benefits report and a detailed benefits calculation annex was published in 2015 by my Department as part of the approval to launch the procurement process. All updates to the 2015 CBA were shared with officials in the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 531 to 535, inclusive, and 541 together. The purpose of the National Broadband Plan is to ensure that over 1.1 million of our citizens in rural Ireland have the same opportunity to participate in the digital society as citizens living in urban areas. The availability of ubiquitous high speed broadband will bring significant benefits in areas of e-Health,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Biofuel Obligation Scheme (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Biofuels Obligation Scheme, administered by the National Oil Reserves Agency, is the principal support for the uptake of biofuels in Ireland. The scheme was introduced in 2010 and requires suppliers of liquid road transport fuels to ensure that biofuels make up a portion of annual fuel sales. It works on the basis of tradable certificates - two certificates are awarded per litre of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 537 and 538 together. The purpose of the National Broadband Plan is to ensure that over 1.1 million of our citizens in rural Ireland have the same opportunity to participate in the digital society as citizens living in urban areas. The availability of ubiquitous high speed broadband will bring significant benefits in areas of e-Health, e-Education, smart...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Data (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The unit price of cable per kilometre is information which is commercially sensitive within the telecommunications sector, as this fibre is sourced on the open commercial market. To disclose such information could allow suppliers to gain an unfair advantage and be disadvantageous to the National Broadband Plan (NBP) State intervention as a whole.The design of the NBP State intervention...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Public Spending Code (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Public Spending Code sets out a comprehensive set of expenditure appraisal, value for money and related guidance covering all public expenditure projects. The Code contains standard analytical procedures for carrying out financial analysis and, in accordance with these procedures, VAT is excluded from project costs on the basis that it is a transfer payment. The cost of procurement...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Data (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The value of a company is generally based on its likely future profitability. While National Broadband Ireland will, similar to any commercial company, strive to maximise its revenue and profitability, it will be constrained due to State Aid restrictions and regulatory oversight of the prices it can charge. Under State Aid rules it cannot use the subsidised network to compete in commercial...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure that every home, school and business in Ireland has access to high speed broadband. This is being achieved through a combination of commercial investment across the country, and a State intervention in those areas where commercial operators acting alone are unlikely to invest. The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Granahan McCourt Dublin (Ireland) Limited and Tetrad Corporation are the investors responsible for providing all of the equity, working capital, performance related security and project deliverables. NBI Infrastructure Limited, trading as National Broadband Ireland (NBI) is a new entity established by Granahan McCourt for the purposes of delivering the NBP. It is this company that will...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Infrastructure (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Power stations are an operational matter for the owner and operator of the power station, in this instance the ESB, and one in which I do not have a function. The 100 megawatt Lough Ree electricity generating station at Lanesboro, Co. Longford and the 150 megawatt West Offaly electricity generating station at Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly are both owned and operated by ESB. To date both...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Landfill Sites (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: In December 2018, Kildare County Council, the contracting authority, invited tenders for expressions of interest in the remediation of Kerdiffstown landfill. The closing date for submissions was extended until 14 February 2019 on foot of requests for more time made on the eTenders procurement website. This process of evaluation is still underway and Kildare County Council are currently...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Alternative Energy Projects (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I have recently set out a new ambition for Ireland, of reaching 70% renewable electricity by 2030, and details on how this will be delivered will be contained in the soon to be launched All of Government Climate Action Plan. The Plan will set out the necessary policy measures to help meet our 2030 target and will put Ireland on a clear pathway to meeting our 2050 objectives. The EU...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Generation (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The most recent Energy in Irelandreport which covered the period up to end 2017 was published in December 2018 by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Renewables, including wind (25%) generated around 30% of Ireland's electricity in 2017, with the other main sources being gas at 51%, coal 12% and peat 7%. Provisional figures for 2018 show that renewables generated 32.5% of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Adaptation Plans (21 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 549, 556 and 564 together. The decision of the Dail to declare, on Thursday 9 May, a climate and biodiversity emergency in the context of endorsing the report of the Joint Committee on Climate Action is a significant statement. It underlines the importance that all Parties in the Dail attach to taking urgent action on climate. In response to this...