Results 6,621-6,640 of 34,585 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: I return to the map. We are discussing the large amber area. Will Mr. Griffin explain that in layman's terms for the benefit of the public.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: A figure of 757,000 premises was set about two years ago and now stands at approximately 540,000. Have there been any changes in those two years which will be in effect in when the contract is signed, possibly some time this year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Will Mr. Neary explain how this amber area was arrived at?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Was it based on townlands? How did the Department draw up the map? People wonder how they ended up in the amber area. Will Mr. Neary explain how the boundaries were decided?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Did townlands come into it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: What about the non-amber areas?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: No, it is not for me.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Laois is only for illustrative purposes, even though I have an interest in it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: No, we will stick with County Laois.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Part of Kildare is in my constituency, as it happens. My concern is that people who are not in the amber area are still having difficulty getting broadband. How many people are affected? It is one thing to say there are plans to get there but how many people outside the amber area are unable to get high-speed broadband service as we speak.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Are they extending their current service availability into amber areas?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Eir is a big outfit. People call us all the time and say Eir is providing broadband down the road from them. When they call Eir and quote the code, they are told they are in an amber area. It is up to the Department to provide for them. Eir is passing the buck to the Department. Eir knows that there will be a subsidy to provide broadband to that house. If it provides a connection now,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: I will reverse the question. Approximately how many high-speed broadband connections have been provided in each of the past few years? I have the quarterly report from the regulator.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: I am referring to delivery.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Without getting to the figures, I will take a counter-intuitive approach. If the Department did not exist, the private sector would be ploughing ahead and signing customers up. Firms would not be refusing to go into the amber area.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: The copper network is not capable of taking the high-speed broadband.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: Very well. I call on the Department to make sure that Eir pays well for getting upgraded fibre to its network. It must not be let off the hook. Do the witnesses take my point? Some tens of thousands of people are being connected every year. Eir's representatives said that the firm could do more. It was not a commitment, but it might do so. That company has connected 300,000 premises....

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: What the witnesses are saying is that, without the rural broadband plan, all of these connections would come to a halt.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: I will ask the hard question then. How many properties are in the State? What is the overall figure?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Broadband Service Provision: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: I am making the other argument. Some 1.9 million properties have been connected by the private sector without any subsidy. We probably did not think it would connect that many five years ago. I am playing the devil's advocate. The private sector has connected 1.9 million without a penny from the State. It now sees that the State is going to sign a massive cheque. Of course commercial...