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

Deputy Coffey is correct. People are not prepared to tolerate a very poor or inadequate service anymore. The traditional division that might have been between rural areas and urban areas 30 or 40 years ago is no longer the case. Therefore we have to respond. When the national broadband scheme was introduced the alternative was nothing. In addition the expectations were a great deal lower. Almost nobody at that time forecast how things have developed since the NBS was put in place. While it has been reviewed, for example, by the Comptroller and Auditor General in terms of value for money and so on, the contract will continue to run until the end of August. We will certainly be assessing it after that.

To some degree it relates to Senator Coughlan's question on advertising. Sometimes speeds are advertised and not realised in practice. That is a very difficult area of consumer law where there is not uniform broadband quality. We had a very good arrangement with NBS where we were able to channel complaints and address issues that arose during the course of the contract and I believe it worked quite well. However, it was for a basic level of broadband and there is no point in me trying to dress it up for something it was not.

The expenditure on the rural broadband scheme was negligible based on the amount of uptake. It was focused on premises that could show that no alternative was available and so on. However, times have changed and intervening to provide a basic service at that time was necessary. Looking back on it could decisions have been taken differently? We are all wiser in hindsight and so on. It has been a big factor in influencing the step change to fibre. We have realised, even since the publication of the broadband plan, that some aspects we were advocating at the time are likely to be quickly out of date. That is why we have gone for the fibre solution.

I suppose the one-stop shop will be the map when it is published. It will go out to public consultation and so on at that time.

I say to Deputy O'Donovan that we will not stop at the 1,000 villages but they are first in the firing line. The funding envelope has also changed. In the approval we got from Government we have envisaged that there could be a spend of up to €520 million, I believe, in this first phase. However, that would depend on the extent to which we are leveraging existing infrastructure. It would depend on the contribution the commercial sector will make in terms of that build out. In terms of an initiative such as ESB-Vodafone and Eircom, for example, some of those villages will fall off the list and new villages will come on to it.

The second-level schools programme will be completed by the beginning of this academic year - by September. I had the extraordinary experience of visiting Arranmore Island last Thursday and being able to Skype from the school to a conference I was supposed to attend in Dublin Castle.