Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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993. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if he, his departmental officials and or his ministerial predecessors have met companies and an organisation (details supplied) and or representatives of same in the past three years to date; if so, if a schedule of those meetings and the associated minutes will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44782/18]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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One of the functions of my Department is to work with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and Local Authorities to remove any barriers that impact the roll out of rural telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in rural Ireland, including mobile phone and broadband infrastructure.

This work involves convening regular meetings of a Regional Action Group which comprises the Local Authorities’ Broadband Officers. Telecommunications service providers and other organisations are invited to present on a variety of subjects at these meetings from time to time, to help the Broadband Officers and my Department to gain a better understanding of issues that need to be addressed. Enet, and other service providers, have attended some of these meetings.

The minutes of these meetings are not published as they may contain commercially sensitive material. Details relating to specific contracts are not discussed at these meetings.

My Department and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment also hold quarterly meetings with each of the organisations responsible for the delivery of actions arising out of the 2016 Report of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce, in order to obtain an update and prepare quarterly progress reports on the actions.

Enet is part of an Industry Group that meets collectively with the Departmental officials in relation to their specific commitments under the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce Implementation Group. The type of actions for delivery by the telecommunications operators include identifying, in consultation with Local Authorities, optimal locations for additional infrastructure to improve coverage; providing greater transparency of mobile phone contract costs for customers; and reporting on activities undertaken to optimise the performance of their networks. 

The full list of actions contained in the Report of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce is available on my Department’s website, www.drcd.gov.ie.  Regular quarterly progress reports, as well as the minutes of meetings of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce Implementation Group, are also published on my Department’s website and the website of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

My Department was established on 19 July 2017. The following table lists the meetings or sessions where representatives of Enet were in attendance from that date until now. 

I can confirm that I have not met with either the company or the organisation referred to by the Deputy since the formation of the Department.