Broadband Blackspots: Cllrs hit back over claims Council were slow to issue licences to contractors

The suggestion that Meath County Council had been slow to engage with National Broadband Ireland in relation to licences was taken exception to by a number of councillors at Monday's presentation.

Cllr Paul McCabe brought up comments made at the Oireachtas committee meeting that things were tougher in Meath compared to other counties and that engagement had been slow and asked TJ Malone of National Broadband Ireland to clarify these comments saying they “didn't go down well in the county”.

Mr Malone said he assured him there had been lots of delays and that while there are conditions in every local authority around the country, they needed more flexibility with a programme of this scale.

"We have had engagement, but the conditions being put on licences and how we operate were overly onerous. They were impossible to work within for the scale of this project," he said adding that only one of their four contractors had tendered for the work in Meath because of the onerous conditions that come with licences in the area.

He went on to say they were working well together in the last few months and were now getting the traction they needed.

Cllr Joe Bonner said he took exception to the comments about lack of co-operation and that Meath County Council wants the job done and done right. Having worked for many year with Eir as a designer and planner, he said there had been no hold ups in licensing and it never stopped them achieving their targets.

“There is no way the local authorities are responsible for the delays in the roll out of broadband and if it was, representations should have been made to CEOs of local authorities.” he said.

Mr Malone said he had seen first hand how long it takes to get licences in and that Monaghan and Dundalk had been delivered in the same time frame.

"I understand every local authority has their own ways of working but it has been extremely frustrating from my point of view," said Mr Malone saying he stood over his points.

Director of Services Martin Murray said to use Mr Malone's words he “wouldn't dwell on the matter” but wanted to assure him they had a very professional and specific team that assess road opening licences and section 254s. He said he was glad it was acknowledged that it is now working well and commented that there was a clear correlation between the accelerated granting of licences and the applications and information supplied.

“We are here to help. It is a national project that we fully support."