Speaking in the Dáil recently, Deputy Noel Coonan described as ‘really maddening’ Minister Eamon Ryan’s comments that he anticipates an increase in the demand for high speed broadband into the future.
Deputy Coonan asked about progress in creating a ‘one-stop shop’ to which the Minister for Communications said the context for the proposal is ‘the anticipated increase in demand for high speed broadband into the future.’
In response, the North Tipperary Fine Gael TD said:
“In the three years since I have been a Member of the House, I have heard the Minister pontificate about what he is doing in terms of broadband and set targets which he has consistently failed to meet. To hear him say he anticipates a demand for high speed broadband is really maddening, especially if one comes from my region of the mid-west which has a higher than average rate of unemployment. Shannon Development has stated clearly that the most significant barrier to job creation in the mid-west is the lack of a high speed broadband system. It is simply not there. Metropolitan Area Networks have been in the ground and waiting connection for years and it is frustrating for broadband providers and the general public. I would like a time-frame and for the Minister to state when this will happen. He could have given this answer last September. I do not want to listen to the same story from the Minister next September,” said Deputy Coonan.
Ireland is still behind the EU average broadband penetration rate and there is less broadband penetration in rural areas than in urban areas. Ireland’s ranking in the EU’s Broadband Performance Index is 23rd out of 29 countries.
Ireland, is grouped in the fifth and lowest cluster group with Latvia, Hungary, and Estonia. The socio-economic context is more favourable in Ireland than in the other countries, but high prices and low speeds, limit its performance, as a result of weak competition. High prices, low speeds and limited rural coverage, hold back performance for the whole group.
Although some senior Government Ministers are staying at home, this coming St. Patrick’s Day, 23 key Government figures are flying to locations around the world to meet with key business and political figures to sell our wares.
We are told that these Government Ministers are using St Patrick’s Day as an opportunity to promote Ireland to locations around the world.
We understand that the Minister for Transport Mr Noel Dempsey will be in Toronto, Canada this St Patrick’s Day, to attend the Ireland Fund’s St Patrick’s day lunch with 1,000 business and political decision makers, meeting clients and their customers at an Enterprise Ireland business breakfast. It would appear, however, that Mr Dempsey’s “Ministerial Mercedes”, not to mention the vehicles of local TD’s, Local and County Councillors have not driven on the road from Templetuohy to Johnstown in the past three years.
The video hereunder demonstrates the current state of the road presently tolerated and shared by residents and those trying to transact their everyday business in and around Thurles, Templetuohy and the Moyne areas of Co.Tipperary.
We now ask a simple question “Minister, with the greatest respect, how do you promote a country with a secondary road structure familiar, only, to a fourth world State”
While in daylight this road surface is visible, some night soon some unfamiliar stranger to this area is going to loose their life.
Last week the Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe announced that refurbishment work at Nenagh Vocational School can now go to tender and construction.
Other school projects authorised to prepare tender documents include Borrisokane Vocational School, Ursuline Convent, Thurles and Scoil Mhuire Presentations Secondary School, Thurles. The Sacred Heart Convent in Roscrea has been authorised to appoint a design team in quarter three.
North Tipperary Deputy Noel Coonan has welcomed the recent announcement but said there is long way to go with 36 schools still waiting for their projects to advance.
He stated:
“There are 41 schools in North Tipperary that have made applications for major capital building works to the Department of Education. Five of these projects will now advance to the next stage as announced by Minister Batt O’Keeffe but it is my role in opposition to highlight the needs of the remaining schools and ensure Government Deputies in North Tipperary honour commitments made. The urgency of the situation cannot be underestimated with only five out of 41 schools, or 12%, moving to the next stage in North Tipperary. With new applications continuously being submitted to the Department of Education, this Government has a long way to go and supporting Deputies should not be blowing their own trumpets just yet.
I am continuously submitting parliamentary questions to the Minister for Educations to find out when local school projects will be advanced. In return the Minister replies that ‘in view of the level of demand on the Department’s capital budget, it is not possible to give an indicative time frame for the progression of individual school projects at this time’. This reply is unacceptable when it is the education of the children of our nation that is suffering. “
Individual school projects fall under four band ratings, each of which describes the extent of accommodation required and the urgency attaching to it.
Band One has the highest priority rating and Band Four has the lowest rating.
Boher NS Ballina, St.Anne’s Special School, Roscrea and Templemore NS, are of high priority with a band rating of One. These schools have applied for extension and refurbishment works with Boher NS urgently waiting on a Special Needs Unit.
Meanwhile, 22 North Tipperary schools are in the Band Two rating. Some of the schools waiting include Our Lady’s Secondary School, Templemore which is in early architectural planning for an extension, Scoil Ruaine, Killenaule which has an application for a PE Hall and Cloughjordan No 1 NS which has an application for refurbishment works. St.Joseph’s College in Newport have made an application for an extension and it too has been waiting patiently.
Seven projects have a band rating of Three and three projects have a band rating of Four.
Transport Minister Noel Dempsey recently announced the investment of some €411.408m in the regional and local roads network for 2010 with priority being given to repairing roads damaged by floods and freezing conditions.
Minister Dempsey said in allocating the money his priority had been “to address the most urgently required repairs resulting from the extensive damage caused by the recent severe weather,” estimated by County Councils to total €180m.
The minister said he had also simplified the grants structure and given more flexibility to local authorities to decide how the funds are spent.
Deputy Noel Coonan
North Tipperary Deputy Noel Coonan said this year’s road grant allocation is almost €5 million less than North Tipperary received in 2009 and falls very short of what is needed to repair the ‘Beirut Blitz’ on our roads throughout the constituency. Deputy Coonan said we have two North Tipperary Government Deputies patting themselves on the back yet again over a job, badly done.
The Regional and Local Road Grant Allocations to Tipperary North (County and Town councils) for 2010 are €11,807,118. The figure for last year was €16,239,338. This is a decrease in funding of almost €5million for the coming year.
Deputy Coonan said:
“While this funding is welcome it is not remotely adequate and we have Government Deputies Lowry andHoctor patting themselves on the back for this allocation which is nowhere near enough to repair the extensive damage from flooding before Christmas and frost after Christmas.
North Tipperary County Council has been operating with its hands tied behind its back waiting for this response, especially following the very bad weather we received. The roads are in an outrageous state in some areas which is a clear example of a totally indecisive Government that has failed to take rapid and immediate action. It lacks the confidence and ability to do so. People are suffering damage to their cars on a daily basis. The €139,000 allocated to Templemore Town Councils is a meager amount in comparison to the €204,000 it received last year for regional and local road maintenance.
Both Nenagh Town Council and Thurles Town Council received €287,000 in 2009 but this has fallen sharply to €195,000 for this year. The Department of Transport should be providing extra funding to rehabilitate the dire state of our roads at the moment but instead has provided an even lesser amount this year. Minister Noel Dempsey said these grants represent a significant investment at a time when public finances are under pressure but it is this Government that has created such pressure and I fear this slashing in funding will impact on safety levels on our local network of roads.”
The Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe TD, today [Tuesday] announced details of 52 school building projects which can now go to tender and construction as part of the Government’s €579 million school building programme.
Five North Tipperary schools are named, which had been earlier sanctioned to further progress their building work.
Borrisokane will also receive funds for a ‘Special Needs Autism Unit’. This unit is designed to compliment as a second level outlet to the recently announced special needs unit in Puckane National School.
Last year, over 32 large-scale projects in primary and post-primary schools were completed.
The Government’s capital programme for schools and colleges this year are forecast to create 7,300 jobs in the construction industry. (Well that’s according to the Minister for Education and Science.)
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‘Last year 967 schools benefited from small-scale projects undertaken under the Summer Works Scheme, while 1,700 schools received the go-ahead to carry out works under the Energy Efficiency Scheme,’ said Minister O’Keeffe.
These projects nationally are expected to create 23,000 new school places for children, through the building of 20 new schools and extensions.
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