Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is no longer accurate to say, disparate and all as the ownership structure may be, that it is in the main unlit. Let us take for example the situation of the Metropolitan Area Networks. It is true that two years ago fewer than half of them were lit but this is no longer the case. I understand that only six remain unlit. The new owner of the franchise now manages the MANs.

In the case of the Chairman's county, interesting developments are happening there in terms of broadband infrastructure. It may not immediately run through Ballaghaderreen but it will run from Bellanaboy into Galway. What we propose to do in this regard is currently under examination at European level. Also, the National Roads Authority has been more facilitative in recent times than it was during the height of the road building boom. The Deputy's net question is should all of this be pulled together under single ownership? The Deputy would not believe the amount of work put into stripping out the energy side by my officials and the amount of paid expertise required to be taken on board by the company. I am happy that BGE networks, or whatever it will be called, will retain Aurora, which gives us the opportunity, when we get a fix on what proposal we will put to Europe in respect of the least densely populated parts of the country, to look at it in that context.

The advice from the parliamentary draftsman's office is that the purpose of this Bill is as set out in the foreword.