Results 15,581-15,600 of 21,588 for speaker:Denis Naughten

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Official Engagements (9 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I did not attend the Ryder Cup. My officials did not attend the Ryder Cup in an official capacity.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1, 2 and 5 together. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on progress of the national broadband plan. The commercial sector has failed to bring high-speed broadband to large parts of rural Ireland. The purpose of the Government’s national broadband plan is to address this market failure. Ireland is not alone in facing this challenge. It...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: First, I have tried to facilitate in every way I can any request for meetings I have had from Members of this Parliament. Second, the Department is responsible for the governance and evaluation of the tender. The Minister has no role in relation to it. As Minister, I have overall responsibility to ensure the Government's objectives under the NBP-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: -----in terms of State-led intervention are met.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I am also responsible for answering questions on the timelines associated with the Government rolling out high-speed broadband to non-commercial areas as soon as possible and meeting with the targets set out under the digital agenda for Europe. The Department is required to keep the Minister and the Government informed of the progress, timelines and the likely cost implications for the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: During the talks on the programme for Government the procurement board itself made an announcement that it would delay the process, which was independent of any Minister being in place at the time. Do Members want a situation where all progress in the communications area would be stalled pending the completion of the process?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: Deputy Dooley would, correctly, have come in here today and criticised me if this system had fallen apart and Mr. McCourt had said that the Government and the Minister of the day refused to meet him and as a result he was withdrawing from the process. Deputy Dooley sat across from me at a lunch table in December when I sat beside Richard Moat, who was involved in the bidding process at that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: First, the minute of the meeting in New York has been published, as has the cover note from the official who took the minute. It reads:Please find attached the minute of last week's meeting in New York. For context the discussion on the NBP was limited to approximately ten minutes during which time Mr. McCourt addressed his remarks to me as the official representing the Department. They...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Post Office Closures (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I am responsible for the postal sector, including the governance of An Post, which is a commercial semi-State company with a mandate to deliver a postal delivery service and a viable post office network. I am acutely conscious of the value placed by communities in both rural and urban areas on services provided by post offices. I am fully committed to ensuring a sustainable post office...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Post Office Closures (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: This decision was not taken today or yesterday. It has been a consistent policy of successive Governments.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Post Office Closures (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: In fact, during the greatest economic boom in this country between 2002 and 2010, 629 post offices closed, 26 of which were in Deputy Dooley's county, Clare. At the time, there was not this big public outcry for a public service obligation from Deputy Dooley and his colleagues. An Post is reconfiguring its entire operation, which includes the expansion of the PostPoint service and making...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Post Office Closures (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Fianna Fáil spokesperson, Deputy Ó Cuív, described maintaining all of the post office network throughout the country as "tommyrot". He is on the record here as saying "tommyrot" to anyone who thinks we can save every post office throughout the country. My objective has been to make as many of those post offices as viable as possible. The Deputy said that we should put...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Post Office Closures (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: What would be the threshold for how many use a service? One person a week? Ten people a week?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: The third report of the Citizens' Assembly, How the State can make Ireland a Leader in Tackling Climate Change, was submitted to the Oireachtas in April of this year. The Houses subsequently established the Joint Committee on Climate Action to further consider the assembly's recommendations and to report by the end of January 2019. I was pleased to note that many of the recommendations...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Government has put its money where its mouth is. Earlier this year, we published the National Development Plan 2018-2027, which is committed to €22 billion being invested in climate-related measures over the next decade. On top of that, we are spending €8.6 billion on sustainable transport. If one looks anywhere across Europe, the level of public investment in this area...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: Public transport is the solution in our urban areas but, as the Deputy will be aware, 38% of our population lives on 96% of the land mass, and no matter how much public transport one puts in place, we will not be able to address that issue. We have unique challenges in Ireland and we need unique solutions to them. When speaking about the Revised Estimate yesterday, the Minister for Finance...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Broadband Service Provision (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Government's strategy for the NBP was devised following a detailed public consultation. The consultation was undertaken against a backdrop where the telecommunications sector in Ireland operates in a liberalised market that relies on commercial operators investing in building infrastructure and offering services to citizens and businesses on a commercial basis. The commercial...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Broadband Service Provision (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I will say this again. The vast majority of telecommunications companies in this country have had some role in this procurement process at some stage over its course. If I were the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the effect of what it has been alleged I should have done would be that I would not meet the farm organisations from the day of my appointment until next month or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Broadband Service Provision (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I did not attend the lunch. My understanding is that Mr. McCourt and his family came in for lunch that day to celebrate a birthday, as they had been in Dublin. That was the reason for that particular lunch.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Broadband Service Provision (10 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I did not attend it.