Mr. Colm McColgan:

The best thing the committee could do is to allow us to try to get policy changed so that we can pilot the Scandinavian model in rural parts of the Border counties. Many people have asked for this and we believe that is the best thing the committee could achieve for us. The Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is considering the matter but it is by no means over the line. In turn, it must discuss the matter with the more conservative Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. That is the main point.

Donegal County Council and Derry City Council established ERNACT. The idea was not so much to do major things but to transfer good ideas from other parts of Europe. This is exactly what we are doing with the Scandinavian model. Approximately ten years ago we were forced to get involved with the Border corridor when we found out there was no broadband network. We acquired considerable experience, as did both councils.

The €25 million referred to was spent on the four fibre-optic lines that run between Letterkenny and Derry and the wireless city model in the centre of Derry. INTERREG money was deployed to introduce wireless capability in rural parts of Donegal and the Border areas. It was done by a local company in Derry and it was a good solution.

The main point is that the whole broadband game is moving on. We are moving to the point at which between 30 and 40 Mbps is becoming the norm, up to 1,000 Mbps. That is the perspective and that is what we are aiming for. We are trying to prepare the Border areas, especially in the north west, for that type of scenario. We believe that if local communities in the Border areas were allowed to pilot this approach we could do a job there, because we have the expertise. Donegal County Council and Derry City Council have a good deal of expertise in this area as well. There is a view that perhaps the expertise does not exist outside the Departments, but it does.