Results 1,941-1,960 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I continue to facilitate meetings all the time with and between Eir and NBI. I look at whatever regulatory questions they have. I meet with them and ask what they want the Government to do differently. I analyse what they are doing and look at their reports. I am putting significant focus and energy into this and I am optimistic we will get this to work.

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I understand exactly what NBI and Eir's respective positions are. NBI says it wants more autonomy in how it works. If it puts cable through a duct which is blocked, it does not want to have to ask Eir for permission to unblock that duct. The irony NBI points out is that the company dealing with the blocking of the ducts is often the same as the subcontractor being used by Eir at the same...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: Is there a time limit?

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The sums of money are accurate. There is some misunderstanding on the description of the investment. A private-equity investor considers all of his or her investments are equity, whether they are pure shareholding or pure debt. In the case of the funding model for NBI or the investment model, this was agreed in the contract. It is funded with 12% interest loans, but they are shareholder...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I am happy to clear this up. The project information memo for any Government contracts says that the investors pay their own bid costs. Indeed, the process of the bid went on for a number of years. It would have involved many millions of euro of investment and when the company won the bid and set up, it repaid the costs of the bid from the investors' own capital back to those same...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The Deputy would have to ask them. This was the agreed investment structure from 2019. If they are international investors, it may suit their tax treatment in the jurisdictions in which they live. I do not know. Certainly, we got Ernst & Young to examine the investments and comment on the risk profile, which was similar to the investors having bought shares. It was acceptable at...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: There is a complex corporate structure to this, as there is with any multibillion euro contract. David McCourt-controlled companies were the ones that led during the bid. The other investors were putting up the money at a later stage, so it is natural that many of the costs of the bid were attributable to a company controlled by him. I understand the Deputy's question on how a company set...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The Deputy will have received a detailed email showing all the progress so far just before Christmas, as did every Deputy and Senator. We will continue to update them on progress as we go along. The figure of 54,000 relates to homes that can order or pre-order. Homes that can order will get their fibre connected within ten days and those that can pre-order will get it within 90 days. That...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The 2022 targets are under negotiation at the moment, although they are not targets exactly. The specific milestones and deliveries are set in the contract at the start so they are all there already. What we are negotiating now is what the projected actual delivery will be, given the delays experienced last year.

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I recognise there is huge and growing demand for fibre broadband across Ireland, much more than there was two years ago due to the pandemic. Everybody would like it tomorrow. It is a seven-year contract to connect 540,000 homes. We are two years in so there are five years left. A proportion of those homes are due to be connected in years 6 and 7, that is, 2025 and 2026. I can understand...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I understand there were multiple bidders in the process whereby the contract was awarded during the previous Administration. Finally, there was only one bidder because the other bidders dropped out and the contract was awarded to NBI. The terms of that contract stated NBI had to provide €100 million of investment as part of its investment in the project and a total of €175...

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I am happy that NBI is fit for purpose and has the ability and the money for this project.

National Broadband Plan: Statements (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy. Within the contract, there is provision for early termination on both sides, and there are details around that. At this stage, we have no reason to expect that NBI will do anything other than continue to deliver the contract in full within the seven years for the maximum amount of money that was agreed. The figure of €2.1 billion is a maximum payment rather than...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Policy (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senator for raising this important matter, which is of great interest to me. Scenarios for net zero emissions by 2050 include a potentially significant role for the use of zero-emission gases, including green hydrogen. In planning for the longer term, we will ensure that they can meet their potential. The Climate Action Plan 2021, published in November, identifies green...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Policy (27 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: In a very concrete way, three buses have been put in place and are operating. They are giving us the experience of knowing what it is like to run longer heavy-duty services. Of course, they do not give rise to pollution or emissions. When hydrogen is burned, all one gets is water. Therefore, it is a very clean fuel. That is giving us some experience. Hydrogen can be used for all of...

Seanad: Broadband Roll-out: Statements (26 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: As ever, it is my honour and pleasure to address the Seanad on what is, I am sure, an important matter of interest to everybody in Ireland. I reaffirm to the House that the national broadband plan remains a top priority for the Government. I am sure the Seanad strongly supports the overarching objective of the programme to deliver a high-speed broadband fibre network to over 554,000...

Seanad: Broadband Roll-out: Statements (26 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senators for all of their contributions. I listened carefully to them and they are all valuable. The national broadband plan is not like other national broadband plans around Europe that I have come across. I have spoken to other ministries who are trying to do something similar to what we are doing and our plan is different in two basic ways. The first is that we are trying...

Seanad: Local Government (Surveillance Powers in Relation to Certain Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (26 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Chair and Senators. I am back again. I thank Senator Malcolm Byrne for bringing this legislation to the House. It is clearly well received by everybody. The Government will not oppose it. My staff tell me it is very well drafted and that it is fiendishly complex to do so because they have been working on the same problem. We have had advertising and awareness-raising...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Infrastructure (25 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I propose to take Questions Nos. 170 and 171 together. The National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led Intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the Intervention Area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in the over 554,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Cybersecurity Policy (25 Jan 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The National Cyber Security Strategy 2019-2024 is a whole-of-Government strategy to. The Strategy defines the role of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – situated in my Department – as being to support Government Departments and other public bodies to improve the resilience and security of their IT systems, to better protect services that people rely upon and their data....