Results 3,021-3,040 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Order of Business (24 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Deputy still has not read the Travers report.

Leaders' Questions (24 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: St. Francis of Assisi.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Oil and Gas Exploration (24 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The level of exploration offshore Ireland is low and as a result Ireland’s petroleum potential is largely unproven with only four commercial gas discoveries since exploration began in the early 1970s; namely the Kinsale, Ballycotton and Seven Heads producing gas fields off the coast of Cork and the Corrib gas field off the Mayo coast, which is currently being developed. There have...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: National Postcode System (24 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: It is Government policy to implement postcodes. The procurement process to select a postcode management licence holder to implement a National Postcode System began in 2011 with the publication of a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire on . That process is still ongoing, and it is expected to conclude in the first half of 2013. The final decision to proceed with implementation of a national...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Schools Refurbishment (24 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Overall education policy, including capital spending on schools, is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) administers the Better Energy Communities on behalf of my Department. Under the Better Energy Programme, Better Energy Communities supports sustainable energy upgrades to existing buildings, services,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Ministerial Meetings (24 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I wish to advise the Deputy that neither I, nor officials in my Department, have met any representatives of the tobacco industry in the last six months.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Telecommunications Services (24 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The provision of telecommunications network services, including Skype services, is a matter in the first instance for service providers operating in a fully liberalised telecommunications market. It is a requirement of EU telecommunications law that market regulation is undertaken by an independent market regulator. I am advised by the Commission for Communications Regulation, the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I am very conscious of the dangers posed by carbon monoxide gas to people in their homes and at their places of work. That is why I launched the first Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week on the 24th September 2012; a week which saw a sustained, multi-media publicity campaign to alert people to the dangers and give them advice as to what they should do to be safe. The issue was widely reported...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Postal Services (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: It is Government policy to implement postcodes. The procurement process to select a postcode management licence holder to implement a National Postcode System began in 2011 with the publication of a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire on . That process is still ongoing, and it is expected to conclude in the first half of 2013. The final decision to proceed with implementation of a national...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Alternative Energy Projects (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I intend to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the energy sector between Ireland and the United Kingdom with Secretary of State Davey in Dublin on the 24th of January. The Memorandum of Understanding will result in completion of consideration of how Irish renewable energy resources, onshore and offshore, might be developed to the mutual benefit of Ireland and the United...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: On 30th August 2012, I published ‘Delivering a Connected Society - A National Broadband Plan for Ireland’. The Plan sets the following high speed broadband targets: - 70Mbps -100Mbps available to at least 50% of the population with a majority having access to 100Mbps; - At least 40Mbps, and in many cases much faster speeds, to at least a further 20% of the population and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The provision of electronic communications services is a matter, in the first instance, for private sector service providers operating in Ireland’s fully liberalised telecommunications market, regulated by the independent regulator, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). The Government can intervene in the case of clear market failure. It has, in the past,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) provides a complaints handling process for users of electronic communications services in accordance with its objectives set out in section 12 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002. In implementing this obligation ComReg seeks to provide users with sufficient information to deal with their service providers effectively and to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Government’s National Broadband Plan, which I published in August last, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed services of at least 30 Mbps are available to all of our citizens and businesses, well in advance of the EU’s target date of 2020, and that significantly higher speeds are available to as many homes and businesses as...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: On 30 August 2012, I published the National Broadband Plan, which contains ambitious targets for high speed broadband services across Ireland. The Plan is available on my Department’s website. One of the first steps in delivering on the commitments in the National Broadband Plan will be the completion of a formal national mapping exercise to determine the exact position in relation...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services (23 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The infrastructure that delivers the 100 Mbps broadband connection to post-primary schools is built on a platform that utilises local access service providers, national backhaul service providers and HEAnet’s national backbone infrastructure. The service provision is on a dedicated point to point basis i.e. from the school building to the service provider’s network and onward...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Inland Fisheries (22 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I have been advised by Inland fisheries Ireland that the River Maigue’s conservation limit (CL) currently stands at 4,634 salmon and currently it is achieving only 17% of its CL. Consequently it will closed for the 2013 season. The river has been closed to Salmon fishing under the Salmon and Sea Trout Regulations since 2006. The existing fish counter was upgraded in 2012 in order to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Mobile Telephony (22 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I am aware of the press article referred to by the Deputy. This is an issue that will arise right across the EU as 4G services are rolled out and I can confirm that a group has been established by my Department to examine the degree to which this issue may arise in Ireland when the roll-out of 4G services commences later in 2013. This group comprises officials from my Department, as well...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Inland Fisheries (22 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I am advised by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) that the fish counter referred to is a one channel counter operated on a crump which was installed to assist fish over the large weir at that location. The counter was fully operational for all of 2012 except for a three week period in June when an emergency repair which was carried out. For the previous 5 years, in the same period of June an...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Prices (22 Jan 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: From time to time I receive representations in relation to the prices of oil products and their impact on consumers. I have no statutory function in the setting of oil prices. The Irish oil industry is fully privatised, liberalised and deregulated and there is free entry to the market. The taxation of oil products is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Finance. The upward trend...