Results 7,181-7,200 of 35,131 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: 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...

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 know that.

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: Small numbers of connections have been made by some of the wireless providers.

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: Everybody in Ireland accepts that. The question is what that figure is. It was 757,000 and has now reached 543,000. There could be scope for that 543,000 to be reduced without a State subsidy. We might end up providing a subsidy for houses that would be connected commercially if there was no subsidy. Does Mr. Griffin understand the question?

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 understand that. That is why I say that once somebody is listed in the amber area, the broadband industry will avoid them because firms know that a subsidy is coming. They are holding back. That is what I feel from my contact with the firms. Operators are delighted when a premises is in an 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: We are nearly there. The public will think that the workmen installing the broadband will be from the same firm as the guy who will arrives at the door selling the product. Like the MANs, however, this is really the wholesale end of the business. The retailers will come and buy it from the wholesaler, which is this company.

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 the witnesses explain that in a sentence for the public? Members of the public will see the truck coming to install rural broadband and think their houses will be connected in a week. However, that effort is only putting in the infrastructure, that is, it is the wholesale end of the business. The retail will come later.

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: Or Ervia.

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: That is good. Mr. Mulligan or someone else mentioned 500 m as the length of a cable. I cannot recall the exact sentence but at present, in rural areas there may be a box at one point and then another box at another point up the road but the distance to reach the house in between could be another 700 m or 800 m, by the time one gets to it via the driveway, laneway, or farm. Such rural...

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 allow the Deputy in, as I am finished now, but who pays for this?

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: If they want to get it done underground, that is their own affair. Finally, will there be an annual operating subsidy to the company? If one wishes to keep the comparative wholesale price as it is in other regions, will it be necessary to have an ongoing subsidy after it has all been installed to keep the price down?

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 think that concludes questions. I will draw the meeting to a close, which I am sure people will be happy to hear, since we have been here since about 11 a.m., including a lunch break. I thank Mr. Griffin, the staff from his Department and from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, who got off lightly today with no serious questions. I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Applications Data (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: 45. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of passport applications for each of the past 20 years from persons resident in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14572/19]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Fiscal Policy (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: 54. To ask the Minister for Finance the position relating to EU fiscal rules when approval is provided regarding its multi-annual expenditure ceilings and amendments are regularly made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14570/19]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works Properties (28 Mar 2019)

Seán Fleming: 75. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the position regarding a property (details supplied); the specific uses that will be accommodated on the site; the current position that was at an early stage of development as confirmed in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 211 of 7 September 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14577/19]