Results 1,061-1,080 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: It is.

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I expect we will have revised numbers within two weeks. As to whether it is a negotiation, I am saying that from my mindset. Everything in my life is a negotiation, even right now. The Deputy is right. The Government has this contract, which is a €2.1 billion contract, and it only pays out the money when the company meets the terms. That is where we are at the moment. The company...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: Within the next two weeks.

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: It is all very complex, both the construction and the funding. I will start with the construction. The Deputy talked about the different statuses. The first one is where people are being surveyed. The second is where their connection is under construction. The third is where it is available for pre-order and, in other words, people can be connected to the Internet within 90 days. The...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I presume it is signed by the Minister. I will come back to the Deputy on any detailed questions about the contract.

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: There are 227 deployment areas. They do not match the boundaries of townlands. They split across many administrative boundaries. There is a situation where at the border of a deployment area, one house will be connected and another house is in a later phase. That is frustrating for anybody in that situation. That is a consequence of the design. Part of the design is that construction...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy. It is not a €3 billion contract; it is a €2.1 billion contract. I have read many estimates of what the cost is or is predicted to be and many different numbers are thrown around. The maximum expenditure on this contract will be €2.1 billion. That is what is in the contract. The contract was agreed in 2019, a year before I took office, and it is my...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The Deputy asked how I can politically stand over it. I can politically stand over it because it will bring huge, tangible benefits all around the country. It is a fantastic project and it is comparable with rural electrification. If people want a home in Ireland nowadays, they want to know that they have home heating, running water, electricity and broadband. All of those will be...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: There really is a comparison here with the rural electrification programme. My grandfather worked on the Shannon electrification scheme, the massive hydropower project of the 1920s. It was his first job and he was employed by Siemens because it was Siemens that did the work. That company was brought in to do it. The work was not carried out by civil servants or even by a private Irish...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: First, I will answer the Deputy's question about the communication of connection times to people, which is of great interest to them. When I was appointed last year, the website for NBI only contained timelines for those people who would be connected within the next 18 months. After that, people were only told that it would be "some time" in the future. I ask for detailed information to be...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The Deputy has identified a key difference between the national broadband plan and the commercial delivery of connectivity, which is the reason the NBP was developed. When commercial providers such as Siro, Eir, or Virgin, for example, go around the country to connect homes, they connect the low-hanging fruit, the commercially-viable and easy-to-access homes. Once they meet something that...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Policy (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senator for raising this important matter, which is of great interest to me. Scenarios for net zero emissions by 2050 include a potentially significant role for the use of zero-emission gases, including green hydrogen. In planning for the longer term, we will ensure that they can meet their potential. The Climate Action Plan 2021, published in November, identifies green...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Policy (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: In a very concrete way, three buses have been put in place and are operating. They are giving us the experience of knowing what it is like to run longer heavy-duty services. Of course, they do not give rise to pollution or emissions. When hydrogen is burned, all one gets is water. Therefore, it is a very clean fuel. That is giving us some experience. Hydrogen can be used for all of...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I do not have the number of broadband connection points, BCPs, in County Carlow but I will get those to the Deputy directly. As she said, there are more than 400. Most of the points are funded through the Department of Rural and Community Development under the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, who has a lot of enthusiasm for the connection of broadband connection points. They provide an option...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: Returning to the Deputy's original question, there are ten BCPs in Carlow and 12 in Kilkenny. There are areas within the cities, such as Kilkenny city where broadband cannot be accessed. That applies everywhere. With the roll-out of high-speed fibre across rural Ireland someone who is not getting that connection and is in a broadband blackspot in the city will naturally be aggrieved. I am...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy. I take his point about wireless operators. I have spoken to some such operators, but now that he says it, I could speak to more. It is a good point. Typically in rural Ireland, broadband is provided by a fixed wireless operator. Somebody erects a mast and it covers the valley. When I stayed in Ballydehob, I was able to get a perfectly good service from a wireless...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I was in Limerick before Christmas. I was there because we were connecting the first set of 2,366 homes and I wanted to see how it is done physically, where the cables go in and how it is working. I understand there are another 4,812 homes in Limerick that are being connected by cable. The national broadband plan is not just for residential use. It is for every premises, whether it is a...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: No, not quite. Does the Deputy want me to answer?

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The answer is "No". The intervention area is defined. If a commercial provider provides a service in there, NBI can say it does not want to provide a service in there anymore, that it is not commercially viable, that it is costing the company money as a result and it can apply for a compensation payment. If it is interrupting NBI's plan, such as if that area was in between two areas it was...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I am saying that-----