Written Answers Nos. 174-193Medical Card Applications 174. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan Minister for Health (Deputy Simon Harris): Medical Card Applications 175. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan Minister for Health (Deputy Simon Harris): Orthodontic Services Provision 176. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan Minister for Health (Deputy Simon Harris): Dental Services Provision 177. Deputy Paul Kehoe Minister for Health (Deputy Simon Harris): Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme Applications 178. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): Coillte Teoranta 179. Deputy Mattie McGrath Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): Departmental Contracts Data 180. Deputy Bríd Smith Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): * while contracted out in 2016, some of the monies were actually paid in 2017. Greyhound Industry 181. Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): Bord na gCon has informed me that, following mediation and a ballot of its members, the Dublin Greyhound Owners & Breeders Association on Thursday 15th June 2017, decided to support the resumption of live racing at Shelbourne Park Stadium. Racing is to re-commence from Tuesday 20th June and will see an increase in Live racing at Shelbourne Park and extra supports for the local greyhound community. The question raised by the Deputy is an operational matter for Bord na gCon but I understand that among the proposals agreed is that a dedicated racing manager will be provided in Shelbourne Park for Harold's Cross racing, there will be dedicated Harold's Cross race nights in Shelbourne Park and all staff from Harold's Cross will be accommodated at Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium. In addition, Bord na gCon has committed to hosting a National Greyhound Consultative Forum within the next 30 days to seek feedback and engagement as to how the industry can move forward. Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme 182. Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): The SBCI reported that €60.2m had been drawn down by farmers to the end of April. The average loan size is €32,000, with more than half the loans being advanced for terms of four years or more. By sector, 42% of loan value has been to dairy enterprises, 41% to beef and 8% to tillage, with other sectors such as sheep, pigs and horticulture also applying. The banks advise that all of the remaining €150m is committed and is in the process of being drawn down. Normal bank lending criteria applies to the Scheme and the terms and conditions of each individual loan are agreed between the bank and the applicant according to the purpose of the loans and the circumstances of the farming enterprise. The banks do not report specific information on refusals but have stated that it is in line with their normal loan refusal rates. Applicants to the Scheme have a right of review with the Credit Review Office, which provides an independent review process for SMEs, sole traders and farm enterprises that have had requests for credit refused or had existing credit facilities reduced or withdrawn. One of my priorities has been to address the impact of the change in the sterling exchange rate and lower commodity prices in some agriculture sectors. I am pleased at the very positive reaction by farmers to the Scheme, which has proved that significant demand exists for low cost flexible finance. I have met with the Chief Executives of the participating banks to discuss this and other access to finance issues relating to the agri-food sector. I have asked the banks to respond positively to the demand that has been demonstrated by reducing interest rates and providing more flexible terms for cash flow loans in the future. Agriculture Cashflow Support Loan Scheme 183. Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): Greenhouse Gas Emissions 184. Deputy Charlie McConalogue Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): There must be a coherent approach to the twin challenges of climate change and food security that does not force us to reduce our sustainable production of food. Such an approach is clearly recognised in the EU Council Conclusions of October 2014 and in the Paris Agreement which outlines that efforts to limit global temperature increases to less than 2 degrees and to pursue 1.5 degrees must do so in a manner that does not threaten food production. From the forestry perspective of land use, the Paris Agreement includes a strong recognition of the role of forests in mitigating climate change and the need to account for both emissions and removals. These objectives are in line also with the Government’s stated long-term ambition for the sector - an approach to carbon neutrality which does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production. Therefore, maintaining the current Commission proposal, which allows Ireland the potential to use up to a cap equivalent to 5.6% of 2005 emissions (2.7 Mt CO2eq per annum) from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) from the 280mt EU flexibility in order to meet its emission reduction requirements, is of major importance to Ireland. This flexibility is based on a combined contribution of net afforestation and cropland and grassland management activities. We continue to emphasise that the flexibility from the land use sector should not be seen as an offsetting proposal but rather as an effort to broaden the “toolbox” of abatement options available to achieve targets. This is particularly the case for Member States where existing abatement measures are costly and action in the LULUCF sector, that encourages removals and limits emissions, may present a more cost effective option. Likewise, the starting point is critical to the achievement of a cost efficient burden which reflects the reality of our end-point in 2020 and not the assumption that we have reached our -20% target. With specific regard to the proposals made by the ENVI Committee of the European Parliament, a range of actions are being and have been taken in respect of appropriate briefings with MEPs and on a bilateral basis with our fellow Member States on those elements of most importance to the agri-food sector. I can assure you of my commitment and that of my officials to ensuring these negotiations result in the best possible outcome for Ireland. We will continue to work closely with the lead Department in this area, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, to ensure a whole of government approach to the negotiations. Appointments to State Boards 185. Deputy Charlie McConalogue Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): Departmental Communications 186. Deputy Charlie McConalogue Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): European Innovation Partnerships 187. Deputy Anne Rabbitte Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Michael Creed): As part of the preparation of the RDP, my Department conducted an extensive and wide-ranging consultation process, which included open invitations to make submissions on any aspect of the design and direction of the new Programme. A full description of that process, including a summary of the main points to emerge, can be found in the published version of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme. Ideas pertinent to the Locally Led model feature in many of the submissions received and all of these have been uploaded to my Department’s website. In addition, my Department also held an open public seminar in Portlaoise in October 2015 focusing specifically on the proposed new locally-led measure. There was a very wide representation of interested parties present at that seminar and feedback from the floor, and from workshops on the day, also influenced the design of the new scheme. Broadband Service Provision 188. Deputy Frank O'Rourke Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment (Deputy Denis Naughten): Importantly, it is proposed that hotspots will rest on existing backhaul provided by public entities defined as municipalities, grouping of municipalities, and other local public authorities and institutions, libraries and hospitals. While these hotspots will provide additional connectivity, they are not designed to fill in broadband coverage gaps, or replace mobile phone services. They will, however, offer additional flexibility for internet connectivity in certain public areas for citizens. By stimulating integration with existing public services, the initiative will assist in promoting public interest in high capacity internet services and will contribute to the take-up of broadband services and also to the development of public infrastructure and digital inclusion. The total amount available for the project across all EU Member States will amount to €120 million under the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding mechanism, which will be administered in a series of tranches over a period of three years. The total amount should result in approximately 6,000 – 8,000 local communities across the EU receiving hotspots at an approximate cost of €20,000 per hotspot. The first call for proposals amounting to €20 million is likely to be launched in late 2017, although no date is yet confirmed. Details of the exact administrative process for applicants, are yet to be decided at technical level, and details of arrangements will be announced in due course by the European Commission. It is known, however, that the hotspots will be paid for through a voucher scheme. The European Commission is working closely with EU Member States including Ireland to determine the logistics of the eventual process. It is not known how many hotspots Ireland will receive overall. However, the principle of geographical balance across Member States will apply so that Ireland should receive a proportionate share. The potential applicants in Ireland’s case will likely include local authorities, with any local authority eligible to apply as long as their application fulfils the conditions set by the European Commission. Broadband Service Provision 189. Deputy Pearse Doherty 192. Deputy Billy Kelleher Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment (Deputy Denis Naughten):
There are approximately 2.3m premises covering Ireland’s 26 counties, of which approximately 542,000 (23%) premises are located in the AMBER area on the Map. These premises will require State intervention and are the focus for the State Intervention procurement process. The remaining 1.8m premises are located in the BLUE areas and will be/are served by commercial operators. Of the 1.8m premises, 1.4m are already within a high speed broadband area and a further 300,000 premises fall within eir’s plans to deliver rural high speed broadband between now and end 2018 (Light BLUE on map). Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available at http://fibrerollout.ie/eircode-lookup/. My Departments High Speed Broadband map www.broadband.gov.ie . provides information on a county by county basis with a breakdown of coverage across the townlands in every county. Individuals can themselves check whether their premises is in a BLUE or an AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode. In relation to the State Intervention; this is intended to ensure high speed broadband is made available to premises and businesses in the areas where commercial investment has not materialised. My Department is running a formal procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network within the State Intervention Area. The State Intervention network will be a wholesale network and retail service providers will be able to use the network to provide enhanced broadband services to their customers. The procurement process is being intensively managed, to ensure an outcome that delivers a future-proofed network that serves homes and businesses across Ireland, for at least 25 years. The three bidders have indicated that they are proposing a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution. A fibre-to-the-home solution means that householders and businesses may get speeds not just of 30 Megabits per second but much higher, potentially up to 1000 Megabits per second. With the finalisation of the map and following extensive dialogue with bidders, the procurement is progressing to the next stage. This week, the Department wrote to the three bidders in the NBP procurement process inviting them to submit their “Detailed Solutions” by 26 September 2017. This is a significant milestone as the NBP procurement process moves to the next stage. The timeframe for the procurement continues to be dependent on a range of factors including the complexities that may be encountered by the procurement team and bidders, during the procurement process. During the Department's extensive stakeholder consultations in 2015, telecommunications service providers indicated a 3-5 year timeline to rollout a network of the scale envisaged under the NBP, once contracts are in place. The Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best rollout strategy, in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and/or high demand. The rate of demand for data services has increased exponentially in the last four years and this presents a continuing challenge for telecommunication operators, regulators and policy makers both in Ireland and internationally. Recognising this challenge, I specifically included in the Programme for Government a commitment to a Mobile Phone and Broadband Task force. In July 2016, I established the Task Force together with Minister Humphreys to identify immediate solutions to broadband and mobile phone coverage deficits and investigate how better services could be provided to consumers, prior to the full build and roll-out of the network planned under the National Broadband Plan State intervention. The report of the Task Force was published in December and is available on both Departments' websites In producing this report, the Task Force worked with Departments, local authorities, ComReg, State agencies, the telecoms industry and other key stakeholders. The report contains 40 actions that will alleviate some of the telecommunications deficits across Ireland and the implementation programme on mobile phone and broadband access identifies 19 of these actions as areas where immediate and direct action by Departments and State agencies can ensure accelerated benefits to consumers. In order to maintain momentum created by the Task Force, I, together with Minister Humphreys, established an Implementation Group. This group is driving and monitoring the implementation of the actions, bringing together all key stakeholders identified in the Task Force report with responsibility for delivery. This group will be formally reporting every 90 days on progress made on all actions. I published the first such quarterly progress report on 13th June 2017, which is available on my Department's website at http://www.dccae.gov.ie/documents/Taskforce%20Q1%20Progress%20Report.pdf and which shows that considerable progress has been made, particularly in relation to the implementation of actions identified for Q1 2017. The work of the Task Force will also assist local authorities in preparing for the roll-out of the new NBP network once contracts are in place. In addition, following regulations which I signed last year, ComReg recently announced the results of its auction for the 3.6GHz radio spectrum band, which means an 86% increase in spectrum capacity to meet the growing demand for mobile and wireless broadband services across rural and urban areas. The Regulator has awarded 15 year licences for the rights of use in this band which will provide a degree of stability and create future investment certainty. Spectrum was also awarded in lots covering 9 urban and rural regions across the country. In my Department's Estimates for 2017, I have secured an €8 million provision for RTE to allow it to free up the 700 MHz spectrum band. ComReg in turn will make plans to allocate this spectrum to provide for significantly enhanced mobile coverage. The 700 MHz band is particularly suited to rural environments where the signal can travel long distances. These initiatives should assist in enhancing the quality of mobile phone and data services across Ireland and particularly in rural Ireland. Departmental Contracts Data 190. Deputy Bríd Smith Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment (Deputy Denis Naughten): North-South Interconnector 191. Deputy Brendan Smith Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment (Deputy Denis Naughten): In light of the motions passed by Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, I had proposals prepared for an updated independent study. In preparing the terms of reference for this study, my officials held meetings with representatives of the North East Pylon Pressure Campaign on 28 March and the Monaghan Anti-Pylon Committee on 3 April. This engagement was important in facilitating local representative groups input into the terms of reference drafting process. I approved the Terms of Reference for the study and published them on my Department's website on Monday 8 May. This study will bring further clarity to the relative cost and technical merits of overhead and underground solutions for the North South Interconnector. Following the publication of the Terms of Reference, I met with the Deputy and a number of other Oireachtas members from Cavan, Monaghan and Meath on Tuesday 16 May. This meeting provided me the opportunity to update the members on progress in relation to the proposed study and for the members to provide feedback. As discussed at that meeting, it is not proposed to include external factors (such as local tourism, health, landscape, agriculture and heritage). These were examined as part of the statutory planning process which is the appropriate method by which such impacts are assessed and evaluated and therefore there are no plans to re-draft the terms of reference. Apart from these external factors, the terms of reference is in keeping with all other factors contained in the motions passed. The impact on land and property values and the level of compensation paid in lieu of such impacts was also discussed at the meeting with Oireachtas members and at the meetings with the community groups. Whilst it would not be appropriate for me to intrude on settled processes for addressing these issues between developers and affected landowners, in light of the concerns that have been voiced, I am commissioning research on international comparative practice on the approach to and levels of compensation provided to land and property owners in proximity to high-voltage power lines. Question No. 192 answered with Question No. 189. Bus Services 193. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport (Deputy Shane Ross): |
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