Results 2,961-2,980 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: They are people who have subscribed to the service. About 10,000 homes are passed with fibre, so the fibre is going pass the kerbs outside those homes. The 4,200 homes are actually subscribing. The numbers will keep increasing. We expect that eventually 80% of people in rural Ireland will subscribe to the service.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Deputy O'Rourke and I and Deputy Ó Murchú have worked together through ups and downs on this project over the past number of years. Deputy O'Rourke will remember that during the pandemic there were delays to the project. It eventually looked as though it would be eight months delayed compared with its original schedule. The project was signed in December 2019 and the contract...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Per month.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The country has been divided up into two areas: the intervention area where NBI operates and the non-intervention area, which is the urban areas which are commercially viable. We got approval from the European Commission to have NBI operate and be subsidised within the intervention area. If a person is not in that area, the NBI is not going to reach them. The NBI has to provide 100%; it...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: For an inferior service. This is not just a problem in Ireland. Builders involved in residential developments around Europe have figured out that they can do a deal with somebody to supply the service. The Gigabit Infrastructure Act is European legislation that I have worked on in recent years. It has been passed and comes into effect in November of next year. It deals with precisely...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: It is an Act, not a regulation. It is to be transposed. The deadline for transposition is November 2025. It should provide for that. About 81% of the country now has access to either fibre broadband or high-speed cable Internet. Only about 19% of people do not have that. That covers everybody in Ireland, both urban and rural. As that number reduces, the 10,000 a month, the political...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Typically, a duct is like a Wavin pipe. The Gigabit Infrastructure Act places a new obligation on the owners of that infrastructure to allow competitors to sublet parts of their infrastructure, in other words to allow their hardware to be put into the ducting.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The first electricity credit will be paid between November and December. It is worth €125. The next one will be in the January-February period. The Deputy is right in saying that most people will be able to save more money by switching provider than they will get from the electricity credits. There has been a great deal of interest in that, but switching provider is worth doing. A...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: There is a low interest grant scheme for retrofit. I understand the rate is about 3%. The idea is that people receive half the money as a grant from the State and the borrow the other portion at a low interest rate. I do not think it applies to solar alone. People have to be doing a comprehensive retrofit, which is more expensive. I take the Deputy's point on that. We are putting...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: My county was not included in the first tranche, but it will be in the second. I did not want to show favouritism towards myself.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I think Leitrim, from memory, was in the first phase.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I will get the Deputy a note on which counties are included. We are doing the rest of the country, starting in the next few weeks.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: There you go.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: That is a good suggestion. I will go back to the Department and see what we can do. We have very high demand for solar. The only constraining factor is the number of people available to do the work. The number of registered installers for solar doubled over the past year. A lot of people are moving into that business. To anybody who is looking for a job in the future, I would say that...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The VAT on heat pumps dropped in the budget. One reason for that is that we were allowed, under the VAT directive, to cut VAT. We are always constrained in terms of what we can do on VAT in Ireland. It is one area that is decided at a European level. We have a certain flexibility. The committee will know from getting a car serviced that there are different rates of VAT on the bill and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Litter Pollution (15 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Under the Litter Pollution Act, 1997, the primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to litter pollution lies with local authorities. It is a matter for each local authority to determine the most appropriate public awareness, enforcement, and clean-up actions in relation to litter taking account of local circumstances and priorities. My Department provides financial...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (15 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy, published by my Department, sets ambitious targets, which include providing a Gigabit network to all households and businesses in Ireland by 2028 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030. These targets will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and through the State investment in National Broadband Ireland (NBI). The...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (15 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy, published by my Department, sets ambitious targets, which include providing a Gigabit network to all households and businesses in Ireland by 2028 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030. National Broadband Ireland (NBI) is currently rolling out a high speed and future-proofed broadband network through its Contract with the Minister. NBI...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (15 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Notwithstanding the significant progress made in improving Ireland’s waste performance over recent years, the targets we face at EU level are challenging, including targets for municipal waste recycling in 2025. In that context, I now asked my officials to commission a comprehensive study to explore the feasibility, potential benefits and risks associated with transitioning our waste...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (15 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland. The premises in question is in the BLUE area on the broadband map. The BLUE area represents those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high-speed broadband services. The Department defines high-speed...