Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and our visitors.

This reminds me of the ESB rural electrification scheme. There were black spots until the mid-1970s, although the rural electrification scheme had commenced in 1949, which was before I was born but I read about it. The delegates talked about areas in which the service was not commercially viable. It was the same in the case of electrification. The ESB supplied the major towns which, in some cases, had their own electricity plants. However, the black spots were left until last. I come from a rural area, the Cooley Peninsula, which was one of the first areas to be electrified in the country. It was second to Julianstown, County Meath. People waited and waited and eventually, after 25 years, the project was completed. Do the delegates envisage the realisation of their vision for the entire country will take 25 to 30 years? I am particularly concerned about small and medium-sized industries. I am glad to say that on my peninsula there are thousands of people working in small and medium-sized industries, but they do not have the proper or adequate coverage they require to conduct business.

What areas are receiving top priority in the rolling out of broadband? What are the areas in which the service is less commercially viable? What is the vision for the black spots? When I am leaving the Cooley Peninsula for Dublin at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m., I tell people not to ring me because I will be on the motorway for an hour or an hour and a half. I cannot understand the position on coverage. I believe it may be the case that on most motorways there is inadequate mobile phone coverage. There is nothing more annoying than having to tell a caller to call back in ten or 15 minutes because one is entering an area with no coverage. One does not like having to tell a caller with a grievance in the first instance that one will have to call him or her back in 15 minutes. Are there proposals to improve coverage on the Dundalk–Dublin motorway, the one on which I travel most often, and the Cooley Peninsula in north Louth?