Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome direct State intervention. However, because of EU rules, the State is not allowed to get involved in areas that have been marked out by the private sector and the Minister states that the role of the State is to get involved where the private sector does not deliver.

The private sector is earmarked to bring high-speed broadband to my area, around Wellingtonbridge and Bannow in Wexford, but cannot do it for a few years. That is not delivery. Does the Minister agree that the State should be allowed to intervene with the provision of broadband where the private sector is not able to bring it on stream quickly enough and that, if this is an EU rule, irrespective of the number of years that they have to wait, surely it is something that should be challenged?

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