Results 6,141-6,160 of 6,812 for speaker:Darren O'Rourke

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (1 Dec 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: 765. To ask the Minister for Health the number of passenger locator forms completed to date in November 2020; the number of follow-up phone calls made to persons that completed a passenger locator form in the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40415/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic (1 Dec 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: 770. To ask the Minister for Health the measures he is taking to address the existing limitations on the Covid-19 follow-up of passengers from Northern Ireland landing at Dublin Airport in terms of the passenger locator form or other; the correspondence he has received from his ministerial counterpart in the Northern Ireland Assembly and his response to same; if issues of data sharing have...

Topical Issue Debate: Brexit Issues (26 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: The Minister of State provided a welcome update regarding one of the elements of this issue, namely, the CPC. I would like to hear from her regarding the requirement for transport managers to be resident in the EU. There is a specific Irish context in terms of the North, the Good Friday Agreement, and the way people live in one area but commute across the Border to work in another. That is...

Topical Issue Debate: Brexit Issues (26 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: I raised this issue yesterday with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I look forward to hearing from the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, on the matter. We are 36 days from Brexit. Regarding certificates of professional competence, CPCs, there is an element of bureaucracy here that needs to be straightened out. We will have the same people on 2 January as we have...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Postal Services (26 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: 165. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his attention has been drawn the delay with transferring new Eircode locations to an application (details supplied); the terms of the contracts in place to ensure the transfer happens in a timely manner; if he is satisfied that the terms of the contract are being met; and if he will make a statement on the matter....

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Taxi Regulations (26 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: 190. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the supports available to taxi drivers who are obliged to renew their cars in January 2021 under the ten-year rule; if the ten-year rule will be further postponed for a period given the impact of Covid-19 on the taxi industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39424/20]

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Telecommunications Services (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: It is important to put on the record that the scale of the problem has not been properly reflected in the figures that have been made public. Last night, for example, RTÉ reflected on the number of complaints that ComReg dealt with, which was 1,062 over a three-month period. It also had a number of other queries. In fact, only a fraction of the people who have problems and issues with...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Telecommunications Services (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: I am thankful for the opportunity to raise this matter. I do not think there is a Deputy, Senator or councillor who does not know what prompted me to table it for debate. I do not know of a measure to gauge the frustration and anger that exist but I suggest that both are off the scale. The number of people who have contacted public representatives, providers, particularly Eir, and the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: 36. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which it is planned in Ireland to meet the target of a society (details supplied) of all European households having access to 100 Mbps connections by 2025 given the fact that the national broadband plan is limited in its areas of intervention; the specific interventions that will be made in non-intervention...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the witness for the presentation. I want to get a sense of the scale of the problem. The figures from ComReg represent only a fraction of the real problem. I ask Ms Lennon to outline the scale of the problem from her perspective, including the number of calls, types of calls and complaints versus queries. We have heard about an avalanche of calls. What are the numbers at Eir's end?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: Does Eir categorise queries?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: Can Ms Lennon give us that breakdown? I am interested to know how much of the contact is within the control of Eir, how much is related to services it is expected to deliver, be that breakdown or interruption of service, and how much of it is standard-type queries from people working their way around Eir's service.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: Let us focus on the tech support. If I am a user and there is an interruption to my service that is a different challenge from straightening out my bill. In regard to tech support, has something in particular happened in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: Looking at October 2020 versus October 2019, there were similar patterns at in or around 230,000.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: On that issue, Ms Lennon said that Eir needed to take on additional 70 staff, but that it actually lost 80 staff, which means it was minus 150 staff. It then recruited 130 staff, so it is now minus 30 staff in terms of where it needs to be.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: How quickly will Eir have those people in place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: I want to put on the record that I do not accept that Covid-19 is an excuse. I hear what Ms Lennon says in regard to the recruitment embargo but I do not understand it. I think it is self-imposed between March and July. I do not know why Eir could not and did not recruit during that period. Eir is deemed an essential service. Other industries have had to live with Covid, some of them far...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: In fairness, that is a promise of something in the future. I suggest to Ms Lennon that Eir, which is a hugely profitable company, needs to make a gesture of goodwill to its loyal customers. I ask the witnesses to consider these options. For example, it could offer a month's waiver for pensioners who are service-users of Eir. That is the type of initiative Eir should be taking to show the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: Why not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Broadband Connectivity and Telecommunications Issues: Eir (25 Nov 2020)

Darren O'Rourke: I have never seen anything like the scale of frustration people have had with Eir. That is the truth of it. There are people in this room who have been in politics an awful longer than me but I have never seen frustration on this scale. Ms Lennon is underestimating the scale of people's frustration with her organisation by a power of ten. I believe this is needed. That is my opinion,...