Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to accept this opportunity to address the House on aspects of my brief as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

It is a very broad brief and I have been asked to focus on three specific issues: the development of energy policy; the future of the post office network and the roll-out of our plan to bring high-speed broadband to every home, school and business in the country. These issues have important implications for our society, environment, strengthening economy and particularly for jobs. I will, of course, be happy to respond to questions, comments and insights on these and my other areas of responsibility in the Department.

I intend to publish a new energy policy for Ireland in September. This will follow extensive engagement and consultation with a very wide range of stakeholders, who often have very different views of the correct way forward. This consultation has been under way since the energy Green Paper was published by my predecessor, Deputy Rabbitte, last May. Having listened carefully to all views, I am working with colleagues in the Department to refine an approach to the separate but very much related components of an energy policy that will serve Ireland for a generation or more.

The Green Paper considered the long-term policy, regulatory and societal interventions that we need to make the transition to a low-carbon future and to ensure that we have a secure supply of affordable energy. It identified six pillars of policy: empowering citizens; markets and regulation; infrastructure; creating a balanced and secure energy mix; sustainability; and ensuring that we gain the economic and most of all, the employment opportunities that arise from energy policy decisions.

There are some inevitable tensions between these interrelated and complex policy objectives.

Resolving them will require Government, local authorities, industry, system operators, consumers and citizens to make informed and evidence-based choices. In this regard, very many ideas emerged in the 1,200 written submissions in the consultation on the Green Paper, and from the ten stakeholder seminars I have held over the past few months. These included three regional seminars that facilitated direct citizen engagement.
Investment in wind energy and the construction of new grid capacity have been among the most contentious issues in the debate. We have witnessed a significant increase in public demand for a genuine say in energy-related matters. Real concerns have been voiced and while the debate must be properly informed, I believe Government, local authorities and industry also have a responsibility to develop much better ways of involving and listening to the communities that are affected by infrastructure development. This, and the recent consultation, underlines the value of ongoing citizen engagement, which will be a central component of the forthcoming White Paper.
The urgent need to address climate change - and our increasing international commitments in this area - will underpin our policy choices. The 800 scientists who produced the last year's UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, report made it clear that the world must replace gas and coal with renewable electricity generation within 35 years. Ireland and every other country - large and small - must play its part.
The move to renewables and better energy efficiency is contributing to our economic recovery - and to sustainable job creation. A reliable and safe supply of electricity, gas and oil will continue to be critical to Ireland's ability to attract foreign and domestic investment, including in rural Ireland.
Reducing our heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels is also creating jobs through innovation in grid and energy efficient technologies. The development of renewables can see this country - which is blessed with huge potential in wind, biomass and even solar - replace expensive fossil fuel imports with jobs at home.
I shall now deal with the post office network. Colleagues will be aware that a number of local communities have recently expressed concerns over the future of the post office network. There are 1,140 post offices in the network and 52 of them are owned by An Post. The remainder are operated by independent postmasters under contract from An Post. My Department has no direct say in the number or location of post offices. The loss of a local post office can be a significant event for local people but it is important to point out that the number of closures has been quite small over the last four years. Just five post offices closed in 2014. There were 197 net post office closures between 2006 and 2010 but there were just 24 between 2010 and 2014.
It is Government policy that An Post should remain a strong and viable company, in a position to provide a high quality postal service, and to maintain a nationwide customer-focused network of post offices in the community. There have been pressures on the network because of the following factors: the downturn in mail volumes with the rise of electronic communications; the trend towards electronic payment methods instead of cash transactions; and the economic difficulties of the past few years.
An Post has been successful in its efforts to seek out new commercial opportunities for the network. In an effort to improve the viability of these businesses, I have established a post office network business development group to further explore potential commercial opportunities that post offices could pursue. The group was established after a review under the auspices of the Cabinet Committee on Social Policy. It will include representatives from three relevant Government departments, An Post and the Irish Postmasters' Union.
I am very pleased that Mr. Bobby Kerr, a successful businessman with vast experience in retail, has agreed to chair the group. He brings a depth of knowledge and experience in identifying and developing business opportunities. I expect the group to report to Government later this year and it is scheduled to meet for the first time tomorrow.
I shall now discuss the Government's national broadband plan. The plan will ensure that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses in Ireland through a combination of commercial investment and State intervention. We have created the conditions in which the commercial sector is now investing €2.5 billion. This accelerated pace of investment is hugely encouraging and it is delivering high speed broadband to homes and businesses where low speeds would have been the norm just two years ago.
Eircom now offers speeds of up to 100 Mbps. It has accelerated and increased its investment and will reach 1.6 million homes by the middle of next year. Last year the company announced its intention to deliver fibre to the home in 66 communities. When the national broadband plan was launched in 2012, UPC had committed to give 700,000 homes broadband speeds of between 25 and 100 Mbps by 2015. Two years on it offers 730,000 homes between 120 and 240 Mbps, while businesses can access speeds of 500 Mbps.
The ESB and Vodafone also announced their joint venture last year. It will invest €450 million to bring fibre to the building to half a million premises in 50 towns, with speeds of between 200 and 1,000 Mbps. As well as these fixed-line measures, ComReg's 2012 spectrum auction released new spectrum which delivers advanced mobile high speed broadband. Mobile operators are now rolling out 4G services and enhanced 3G coverage nationwide. Fixed wireless operators are also investing significantly in services across Ireland.
Such investment is a huge vote of confidence in our recovering economy. Despite substantial progress, the Government is very much aware that large geographical areas of the country - rural areas with widely dispersed populations - will not get reliable high speed broadband from the private sector. Therefore, the Government has made a commitment to ensure that every home, school and business will have access to high speed services regardless of where they are located. The national broadband plan will see a State-led intervention provide that access in areas where the commercial sector will not do so.
The stimulation of increased commercial investment means the State intervention will now cover 700,000 premises, compared with the 1.3 million projected in 2012. The initiative will bring substantial savings to the taxpayer. Last November, I initiated a public consultation on a national high speed coverage map, which was produced in line with EU requirements. At the same time an information pack was sent to every Senator, together with an invitation to a presentation by my Department's NBP team, which took place in the AV room here.The map provides detailed information on over 50,000 townlands in every county and is available at broadband.gov.ie. It shows blue areas, where commercial operators will supply access to high speed broadband, of at least 30 Mbps, by the end of 2016. It shows amber areas which will subsequently get high speed broadband through State intervention. This will also be at least 30 Mbps, although the network will be able to meet increased demand in future.
The publication of the maps was an important milestone. We are now engaged in substantial work on the technical, financial and regulatory aspects of the next stage of the project. This will culminate in the next visible milestone which will be the publication of a detailed intervention plan in mid-2015. This, in turn, will then be the subject of further public consultation, as required under EU State aid rules, before we move to the formal procurement process for the infrastructure to provide high speed broadband in the State intervention areas.
The national broadband plan reflects the Government's recognition that broadband is a critical national infrastructure.

While it will deal conclusively with Ireland's connectivity challenges, it is a complex intervention which requires us to make a full evaluation of many policy and regulatory issues. This will take time and, as such, it is my intention to publish a monthly progress report to Seanad Members and others as we work to implement this commitment.

I have given a broad outline of progress on the three issues of energy, the post office network and broadband. As I said at the outset, I am very happy to engage with Senators to hear and respond to their views on these and other aspects of policy in communications, energy and natural resources.