Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

35. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the date of the last meeting of the mobile phone and broadband task force; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26606/24]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Ireland's digital connectivity strategy is aligned with the EU digital decade targets and aims for all populated areas to be covered by 5G no later than 2030, but this is based on population coverage, which ignores 750,000 people who live in rural areas and cannot get 5G coverage. This does not have implications for just mobile phone coverage, but for 5G services and emergency services as well. What happens if someone is on one of our greenways, breaks a leg but has no mobile phone coverage?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That has always been a challenge in rural Ireland. The most recent meeting of the mobile phone and broadband task force took place on 16 May. It was the first meeting under a new structure, wherein both State and industry task force members attend a single session of the task force. The agenda for the meeting included the standard updates by task force members on the status of their actions under the current work programme and a revised work programme for 2024 onwards. Officials from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications also presented on the gigabit infrastructure Act.

As many actions under the current work programme have been significantly progressed, the work programme for the task force has been revised and its priorities now fall under the following four key headings: progressing the delivery of quality, secure and resilient digital connectivity; facilitating the implementation of the gigabit infrastructure Act; improving consumer information and experience; and supporting efficiencies across local authorities for planning and licensing. The work programme will be published shortly and will continue to be revised as necessary to ensure that obstacles to the efficient roll-out of telecoms infrastructure, particularly in rural Ireland, are resolved quickly.

In 2023, the task force held two meetings and an annual stakeholder forum. The forum presented an opportunity for State and industry stakeholders to come together and take part in panel discussions and presentations on the positive influence of the task force's work. I am confident that we can continue to build on the momentum established by the first iteration of the task force, and the model of bringing all the stakeholders together in the task force continues to function well.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The difficulty is that the task force has now been usurped by the Department of communications in terms of its own digital strategy, which is based on EU targets. These EU targets are based on continental Europe, where population densities are very different from what they are here. As the Minister knows, the telecoms operators have proposed a unified mobile phone network in the non-commercial rural parts of the country to provide universal coverage throughout the country. This is not being progressed. Furthermore, because we are bringing fibre-optic cable to every home in Ireland under the national broadband plan, we now have the backhaul capacity in every townland in the country. If we join up the dots with the national broadband plan fibre, along with the telecoms operators' commitment to provide coverage, we can make this happen for every rural family throughout the country.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank Deputy Naughten. I am very happy to take on board his suggestions but, in fairness, much of the responsibility for this lies with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, sits on the task force. In fairness to Deputy Naughten, the then Minister, if I remember correctly, we set up the task force in 2016 and it was a great success. It managed to deal with the issue of bridging the gap between the roll-out of the broadband plan and all of those areas that had very little coverage. It worked very well. The broadband officers that Deputy Naughten and I appointed jointly in every county council have been a great success. They have been able to smooth out problems and deal with various issues that arise at local level.

I know that mobile phone coverage is a big problem in rural Ireland. I do not have 5G myself. Only that I have broadband in my house, I would not get calls. I have to use it for calls. I am sure there are more people like me. For some reason, and I know it probably has something to do with the traffic on the system, we need to get better coverage. I absolutely agree with Deputy Naughten.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Things will get worse rather than better because we will see the 3G network being switched off. It is the one on which many people in rural Ireland rely. Our emergency services rely on an outdated Tetra system that must be mothballed anyway. The difficulty is that we cannot rely on the Department of communications. We must remember this is the Department with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, in charge of it but the same Department and ComReg are not prepared to ensure we have decent mobile phone coverage on our rail network. We are encouraging people to take the train to work and use public transport more but we are not even prioritising putting mobile phone coverage on our rail network throughout the country. The focus group reporting to ComReg has the lowest priority. If the Department of communications will not give this priority, the only Department that can do so is the Department of Rural and Community Development. I ask the Minister, through her good offices and the task force, to ensure we prioritise rural Ireland and not the targets that have been set by the Commission in urban Brussels.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Deputy Naughten will be glad to hear I agree with him. Rural Ireland deserves mobile phone coverage. We need it. I am happy to take on board what the Deputy has said and I will arrange for us to have a meeting directly with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to discuss this matter further. It is a serious issue in rural Ireland, so I am happy to do that.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Minister.