Results 381-400 of 4,002 for speaker:Rose Conway Walsh

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: I thank the Acting Chairman. I note I am the only woman in the Chamber.

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: With the exception of Senator Maria Byrne in the Chair, I am the only woman in the Chamber.

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: I mean in this circle. With so much to answer for over the two weeks, we could all be forgiven for assuming that would see something new and novel in yesterday's summer economic statement. This publication is a bit like Senator Kieran O'Donnell's speech in that it is another exercise in fantasy. The statement announces a budget package that lays out €7 million in additional spending...

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: All this is based on spending and the revenue projections that two leading economic institutions in as many weeks have branded as not credible. This Government's long-standing policy of over-reliance on tax receipts will continue and with it so too will the uncertainty around the funding of our public services. I am delighted the hospital in Limerick is getting a new extension. Meanwhile,...

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: I need to apologise to the Minister of State because I cannot wait for it.

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: No. An important discussion on the 540,000 households that do not have broadband is taking place at the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: If I need to leave, it will be for that reason. Of course, if the Government had the broadband situation under control, I would not have to go to that committee meeting.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: I absolutely concur with what Senator Lawless has said. The scurrilous report in The Timesby Sarah Carey over the weekend was absolutely disturbing. I say as much as someone who was part of the Irish diaspora and who lived in London for many years. Do people mean to tell me that because I returned here I can have a vote but that my brothers and sisters who live in Birmingham, London and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: I thank Ms Lennon for her opening statement. What she is basically saying is that the tendering and procurement process selected by the Government has cost taxpayers an additional €2 billion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: Based on what Ms Lennon is telling us, the monetary cost of the project is an extra €2 billion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: This has serious implications. In terms of people's experience with Eir in terms of getting a phone call answered or a pole moved, has Ms Lennon ever tried to get a pole removed by Eir?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: I have.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: Is Ms Lennon saying that all calls to Eir will be answered within 90 seconds?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: It has been years of torment for people who have been trying to contact the main telecommunications company.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: Ms Lennon will see that when Eir says it can deliver this project for less than €1 billion, people raise their eyebrows. It is the job of this committee to get to the bottom of that. One could also look at this in another way in terms of Eir pulling out of the tendering process in 2017. Did Eir not get what it wanted at that stage? It was allowed to cherry-pick the 300,000 most...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: I appreciate that but even people working within Eir agree that under-investment makes it difficult to get simple matters fixed, for example, wires hanging from poles or poles that have been half knocked over. The lack of investment is very visible in rural Ireland outside the 300,000 homes. How much is Eir getting for the use of the poles and ducts?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: Is Eir already getting one third of the total State subsidy for using the existing network?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: Would Eir not have to do that work anyway?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: It is hardly commercially viable going on those figures. Who is the main shareholder of Eir?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Rose Conway Walsh: Okay. In 2016, the public spending code benchmark figure for the deal we are talking about was set at €800 million and today's State subsidy stands at €2.97 billion. Is it not fair to say that the reason for the cost to the taxpayer spiralling out of control was, in fact, a consequence of the deal that Eir secured with Fine Gael in 2017 to provide services to the 300,000...