Results 6,281-6,300 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Mobile Telephony Services (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 855, 856 and 858 together. The EU and national regulatory framework for telecommunications allows for the application of a Universal Service Obligation (USO) in respect of fixed voice services. The existing framework for telecommunications relates solely to voice telephony and Functional Internet Access (28.8 kilobits per second). There is no provision in...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure that every home, school and business in Ireland has access to high speed broadband. This is being achieved through a combination of commercial investment across Ireland and a State intervention in those areas where commercial operators acting alone are unlikely to invest. There are approximately 42,000 premises in County Cavan. Since December...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: The premises referred to by the Deputy is in the AMBER area on the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map, which is available on my Department's website at www.broadband.gov.ie. The AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led Intervention under the NBP. This intervention is the subject of an ongoing procurement process. The procurement process to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Schemes (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 861 to 863, inclusive, together. The delivery of 14 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling stations, as part of the Causeway Project co-funded by the EU Connecting Europe Facility, is an operational matter for Gas Networks Ireland. I have been provided with an update on the current status of these stations by Gas Networks Ireland which is set out in the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Transport (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: My Department has a contract in place for the provision of taxi services in Dublin, which was sourced under an Office of Government Procurement framework agreement. In 2018, total expenditure by my Department on taxi fares, at home and abroad, amounted to €20,488. For comparison purposes, taxi expenditure has declined by 35% since 2010, notwithstanding an increase of 49% in staffing...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Conservation (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 865, 866 and 871 together. The home energy grants administered by the SEAI are funded by my Department. The majority of these grants are available to homeowners whose properties were built before 2006. Since the introduction of these grants nearly 400,000 homes across the country have received an energy efficiency upgrade, representing nearly one home in five...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce worked with key stakeholders to produce a report in December 2016, available on my Department’s website, which contained 40 actions to alleviate some of the coverage deficits across the country. An Implementation Group is overseeing the implementation of the actions and comprises all key stakeholders responsible for delivery. The Implementation...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 868 and 878 together. The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland. This is being achieved via a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention. The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector. In 2012, less...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 869 and 870 together. Enet has, to date paid over €8.8million to the State, under the terms of the MSE I Concession Agreement. The State has not made any payment to Enet as part of the MSE I Agreement. It was agreed, as part of the decision to extend the Concession Agreement with Enet in 2017, to increase the State’s revenue share in the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Expenditure (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: I refer to the reply to Questions Nos 467, 476 and 477 of 19 December 2018. The position is unchanged.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Staff Data (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: There are currently three staff members assigned to the press office of this Department consisting of one Press Officer at Assistant Principal level, one Executive Officer and one Clerical Officer. In accordance with the terms and conditions set out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, one special advisor with responsibility for press and media is employed at Principal Officer...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electric Vehicle Grants (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: The owner of an electric vehicle is eligible to apply for the electric vehicle home charger grant if the model of vehicle is currently, or has previously been, eligible for the electric vehicle purchase grant. The electric vehicle purchase grant was introduced in 2011 and details on the home charger scheme can be found at www.seai.ie/grants/electric-vehicle-grants/electric-vehicle-...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electric Vehicles (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: The majority of the existing network of publicly accessible charge points was rolled out by the ESB through its eCars programme. This network includes circa 80 fast chargers, mainly on national routes. A map showing the location of these charge points, including their status and availability, is available on the ESB's website at www.esb.ie/ecars. ESB eCars informs my Department that there...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Illegal Dumping (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: The total cost of illegal dumping is not collated by my Department as it includes local authority enforcement, disposal and legal costs and also involves costs for other State agencies such as An Garda Síochána. Illegal dumping is first and foremost a matter of individual responsibility and compliance with the law. While enforcement action in this area is a matter in the first...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Management (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: A review of "A Resource Opportunity - Waste Management Policy in Ireland" will be initiated as soon as is practically possible in 2019. This review process will take account of a number of initiatives, such as the European circular economy waste and plastics legislation framework and the reports from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Price Monitoring Group. This...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Warmth and Well-being Scheme (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Warmth and Wellbeing Scheme was established in 2016 as a joint energy, social and health policy initiative with the Department of Health and cross Government support from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. The scheme was designed to objectively measure and validate the health and wellbeing impacts of improving the living conditions of vulnerable people living in...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Medical Waste Disposal (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: My Department is continuing the work of developing a mechanism to provide a €75 support for vulnerable persons with a condition such as lifelong or long-term medical incontinence to help meet the average annual cost of disposing of their domestic waste. I am informed that this process has taken longer than envisaged, due to a number of issues, including data protection issues that have...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Grid (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: The total amount of renewable generation connected to the grid at October 2018 was 3,857MW, of which wind generation was approximately 3,508MW, hydro was 238MW and biomass was 91MW. Eirgrid estimates that a total of between 3,900MW and 4,300MW of onshore renewable generation capacity will be required to allow Ireland to achieve 40% renewable electricity by 2020. The Energy in Ireland 2018...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: In April 2017 my Department published an updated version of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map. This is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. The Map shows the areas targeted by commercial operators to provide high speed broadband services and the areas that will be included in the State Intervention Area under the National Broadband Plan. The Map is colour coded and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Correspondence (15 Jan 2019)

Richard Bruton: There were eight customer complaints received by my Department in 2016 and 15 received in 2017; all of these were resolved. Nine of the 13 customer complaints received in 2018 have been resolved. None of the complaints had to be referred to the Ombudsman. The categories of complaint included broadcasting, waste, phone bills, eircodes, etc.