Results 1,901-1,920 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: -----in every county in Ireland on the broadband plan. Fibre is being installed in every single county.
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: I did not say that, to be fair.
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: I probably will not take 15 minutes. I thank the Dáil for the invitation to address it on the roll-out of the historic national broadband plan. I reaffirm to the House that this plan remains a top priority for the Government. I am sure that this House strongly supports the overarching objective of the programme to deliver a high-speed broadband fibre network to more than 554,000...
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy. I take his point about wireless operators. I have spoken to some such operators, but now that he says it, I could speak to more. It is a good point. Typically in rural Ireland, broadband is provided by a fixed wireless operator. Somebody erects a mast and it covers the valley. When I stayed in Ballydehob, I was able to get a perfectly good service from a wireless...
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: I was in Limerick before Christmas. I was there because we were connecting the first set of 2,366 homes and I wanted to see how it is done physically, where the cables go in and how it is working. I understand there are another 4,812 homes in Limerick that are being connected by cable. The national broadband plan is not just for residential use. It is for every premises, whether it is a...
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: No, not quite. Does the Deputy want me to answer?
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: The answer is "No". The intervention area is defined. If a commercial provider provides a service in there, NBI can say it does not want to provide a service in there anymore, that it is not commercially viable, that it is costing the company money as a result and it can apply for a compensation payment. If it is interrupting NBI's plan, such as if that area was in between two areas it was...
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: I am saying that-----
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: -----NBI could apply for a compensation payment-----
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: -----and if it can show a loss of revenue as a result and that it is more expensive for it to deploy the network, then that would be adjudicated and NBI could get a payment-----
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: -----but none of these payments has been made.
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: Sorry?
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: If the Deputy wants me to explain why a previous Administration signed the contract, then we are now into a sort of archaeological discussion.
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: My focus is on delivering the contract as it is. If the Deputy wants to look at what the rationale was for the terms of the contract, I would probably have to go back and speak to the people who signed the contract.
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: We have our working contract. My focus is making sure everybody complies with the terms of the contract and making sure everybody in rural areas gets broadband as fast as possible.
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: I do not have the number of broadband connection points, BCPs, in County Carlow but I will get those to the Deputy directly. As she said, there are more than 400. Most of the points are funded through the Department of Rural and Community Development under the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, who has a lot of enthusiasm for the connection of broadband connection points. They provide an option...
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: Returning to the Deputy's original question, there are ten BCPs in Carlow and 12 in Kilkenny. There are areas within the cities, such as Kilkenny city where broadband cannot be accessed. That applies everywhere. With the roll-out of high-speed fibre across rural Ireland someone who is not getting that connection and is in a broadband blackspot in the city will naturally be aggrieved. I am...
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: There really is a comparison here with the rural electrification programme. My grandfather worked on the Shannon electrification scheme, the massive hydropower project of the 1920s. It was his first job and he was employed by Siemens because it was Siemens that did the work. That company was brought in to do it. The work was not carried out by civil servants or even by a private Irish...
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: First, I will answer the Deputy's question about the communication of connection times to people, which is of great interest to them. When I was appointed last year, the website for NBI only contained timelines for those people who would be connected within the next 18 months. After that, people were only told that it would be "some time" in the future. I ask for detailed information to be...
- National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)
Ossian Smyth: The Deputy has identified a key difference between the national broadband plan and the commercial delivery of connectivity, which is the reason the NBP was developed. When commercial providers such as Siro, Eir, or Virgin, for example, go around the country to connect homes, they connect the low-hanging fruit, the commercially-viable and easy-to-access homes. Once they meet something that...