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

The national broadband plan has an overall co-ordinating role. I have seen criticisms of the metropolitan area networks and the investment that went into them. I have seen criticisms of how well the national broadband strategy works in parts of rural Ireland. The long and the short and the tall of it is that if those investments were not made at the time, the situation would be much inferior to what it is. There has been a transformation in the contribution of the metropolitan area networks in the last couple of years. I am not taking credit for that on the basis that I happen to be the Minister. It would have happened anyway. Some 83 of the 88 metropolitan area networks are now lit. Less than half of them were lit when I came into this job.

They are undergoing studies about what greater contribution they can make locally where they ring the towns about which the Deputy knows. It is significant. There is co-ordination in terms of planning and fierce competition between the different telecommunications providers and suppliers. That is as it should be. I take the Deputy's general point about regional development. As the Taoiseach said recently, we can only effectively disperse employment to regional Ireland where the infrastructure is fit for purpose, be it broadband, water or energy. These are the basics on which modern business can build. In the particular area about which we are talking, the broadband service must be improved. It is not adequate. It is improving all the time. In respect of the steps envisaged in the broadband plan, we are halfway through the mapping exercise for the submission to Europe and so on. Once we get the green light, we will get on with it next year. That will leave us in a position that is at least comparable to anything in Europe and is certainly better than the small number of countries that would have the kind of dispersed, sparse population we have in some parts of the country.