Results 981-1,000 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided. The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Renewable Energy Exports (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: Intensive discussions took place in 2013 and 2014 between my Department and the Department of Energy and Climate Change in the UK to establish if it would be possible to export renewable energy in order to allow the UK meet its 2020 renewable energy target. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Cooperation with the UK Government in January 2013, a joint programme of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Media Mergers (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: On 9 June 2015 I published the finalised Guidelines on Media Mergers and the associated Notification Form in accordance with Section 28L of the Competition Act 2002 as amended by the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014. The draft Guidelines were developed by my Department working with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Sea Angling Sector (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has extensive interaction with the sea angling sector both in the terms of supporting the relevant sea angling Federations and also working directly with providers such as Chartered Skippers. In addition, IFI is working with many local authorities and has communicated with all authorities in relation to their Local Economic and Community Plan to ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadcasting Sector Regulation (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: Part 7 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 provides for public service broadcasting in Ireland and the provisions relating to the public service broadcasting corporations, RTÉ and TG4, including their principal objects. These objects provide the companies’ statutory mandates, including the specific objective of providing national, free-to-air public service broadcasting services, as...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Post Office Network (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: It is Government policy that An Post remains a strong and viable company, in a position to provide a high quality postal service and maintain a nationwide network of customer focused post offices in the community. I established the post office network business development group earlier this year. The terms of reference for the group are to examine the potential from existing and new...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Hydraulic Fracturing (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: At the outset, I would like to confirm again that no exploration involving hydraulic fracking has been authorised in this jurisdiction and I can also confirm, as I have done on numerous occasions, that no decision will be made on any proposal for the use of hydraulic fracturing in exploration drilling as part of an unconventional gas exploration programme, until there has been time to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadcasting Charge (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: The Programme for Government commits to examining the role and collection of the TV licence fee in light of existing and projected convergence of technologies and to transforming the TV licence into a household based Public Service Broadcasting Charge to be applied to all eligible households and applicable businesses, regardless of the device used to access content or services. In the context...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Post Office Network (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: I refer to the reply to Question No. [22963/15] on today's Order Paper.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Post Office Network (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: It is Government policy that An Post remains a strong and viable company, in a position to provide a high quality postal service and maintain a nationwide network of customer focused post offices in the community. Social welfare payments comprise an important component of post office business irrespective of the size of the office. The Department of Social Protection recently amended a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided.The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Inland Fisheries (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: The current principal statute governing inland fisheries is the Inland Fisheries Act 1959. It is “of its time” and also itself a consolidation of legislation dating back to the 1800s. While the Government are committed to modernising and updating this code, it must address a range of complex issues including improving access to fisheries, aquatic alien invasive species (plants...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Media Mergers (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: Retrospective actions were not provided for in the relevant legislation. The regime is designed in the 2014 legislation to give the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the responsibility for assessing proposed media mergers, and to empower the Minister to block any merger that is deemed likely to be contrary to the public interest in maintaining the plurality of media in...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Ministerial Meetings (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: I have not had any engagements or meetings, whether public or private, official or unofficial with the individual named. Apart from a brief exchange with another senior executive from the media companies in question at a public event, I have not had any engagements or meetings, in public or private, official or unofficial, with any executives within the media companies concerned.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Public Service Obligation Levy (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: The Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy supports electricity generation which was constructed for security of supply purposes, including peat generation. It also supports the development of renewable electricity which is important for both security of supply and for reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation. The levy is designed to compensate electricity suppliers for the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Telecommunications Infrastructure (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: Delivering on the energy and telecommunications infrastructure needs of a 21st century society is a key priority for Government and my Department and we are making demonstrable progress in both areas. The National Broadband Plan is delivering high speed telecommunications access to every home and business in Ireland regardless of its location through a combination of commercial investments...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided. Last November I published a national high speed coverage map for 2016. The map...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: As part of the NBP, operators will be asked to bid in a procurement process to select a provider or providers for the roll-out of high speed broadband in the areas where commercial services will not be provided. The re-use of existing infrastructure like poles, ducts, sites and masts, will minimise the cost of the State intervention by avoiding unnecessary new build. It is also consistent...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Electricity Generation (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: The combination of systems, infrastructure, policies and technologies that enables the traditional model of electricity supply to move towards a model where energy supply is optimised with demand for energy services, and maximises our use of indigenous renewable electricity, can be collectively called smart grid. A Smart Grid Working Group comprising representation from my Department,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Bord na Móna (16 Jun 2015)

Alex White: While the matter raised by the Deputy is an operational one for the management team at Bord na Móna and not one in which I, as Minister, have any function, it is a matter of concern for me. My Department has raised the issue with the management team of Bord na Móna and I am advised that there has been no development on this situation since their appearance before the Joint...