Results 5,341-5,360 of 5,894 for speaker:James Lawless

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: It is the Department's job.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: I know where to get engineering advice from. I have some questions of my own. I wanted to allow the members to have interaction first and it has been useful. I have a number of questions to put to the deputation as well. The first question relates to Q-Sat. I presume the ComReg representatives are familiar with this company. For the record, Q-Sat was a private company that provided...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: I am not sure they are all getting continuity of service or free service. Some of them are not getting any service. I was speaking to someone last week, and when I asked for an email address I was told it was pointless because the person is totally offline. Naturally, quite a degree of frustration is arising and I believe it was aired on RTE on Friday afternoon. There are some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: Mr. Godfrey can explain to me how that person can get in contact. The difficulties certain rural areas face are well established, as is the criticality of having broadband in all of these areas. Something that strikes me is the inconsistency in the map. I represent a constituency on the periphery of Dublin, namely, Kildare North, which in many ways could be considered part of the greater...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: We have had feedback that there can be delays in publishing ComReg's annual report. I am not aware of whether the report spanning the period from 2015 to 2016 has been published. Will the witnesses comment on what delays have occurred in the past, why they arose and whether they can be avoided in future?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: ComReg submits its reports on time but the delays may arise in the Department.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: Has the June 2016 report been submitted to the Department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: So, no.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: When does Mr. Fahy expect it to arrive?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: To get out to the Department.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: The June 2016 report will arrive at the Department in June 2017, and then there might be further delays with the Comptroller and Auditor General, which might mean it is not published until June 2018.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: It has completed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: For clarification, I understood from what was said a moment ago that ComReg submits a report to the Department and delays may arise at that point. What Mr. Fahy is saying is ComReg has already provided a report to the Department.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: Okay. I might take this matter up with the Minister and the Comptroller and Auditor General separately. I understand quarterly data is produced as are relevant strategy statements. Is it possible for these to be correlated and comparisons made between them? The data is published separately. Could the quarterly data be included with the relevant strategy statements to make more comparisons?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: That is fair enough. The last general policy direction was in 2004, which is quite some time ago. I understand there are multiple ways in which a policy direction may be given. Has ComReg been issued with a policy direction recently? What form does that take? I understand that the Minister makes statements on a regular basis on various matters of importance. Are they interpreted under...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: Okay, so when the Minister makes various statements this is not taken on board as a policy direction informally or in any other-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: Okay. I thank Mr. Fahy for that. There was a question around the 700 MHz band. I know we have heard about the more recent auction but it had previously been stated that the 700 MHz spectrum may enable more 5G broadband roll-out and that high-speed mobile broadband would arise from that, to some extent. What is Mr. Fahy's opinion on the suitability of that plan for 5G services that could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: I wish to move on to the mobile and broadband task force and the report issued last year from the Department. A number of actions were assigned against ComReg in that task force report. Action 40 relates to the review to identify black spots for mobile phone and broadband coverage and to include recommendations and initiatives as to the options available. Where are we in that regard? Does...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: Does Mr. Fahy have views on its necessity or urgency?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

James Lawless: Very good. That brings me on to the shared infrastructure directive, Directive No. 2014/61/EU, which came into force on 26 July last year. Does ComReg have views on the implementation of the regulations in Ireland? Did ComReg have any input into those regulations? I am interested to know whether any dispute resolution processes have been invoked yet and how has that fared? Without getting...