Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If we get the contractors in place in 2016, it will take somewhere between three and five years for the rest of the country to be covered – the figure of 100,000 km I mentioned. Whoever the unfortunate person will be, the last person in the country to benefit will receive broadband by 2020. I expect, once the successful contractor or contractors are in place, the roll-out of the plan to start in 2016. That is the timetable.

To respond to the Deputy’s points about existing problems with the timetables of commercial operators, unfortunately, I cannot direct them. That is not the position we are in, but the mapping exercise shows what the commercial sector will do between now and the end of 2016. I know that is not a full answer to the Deputy’s questions, but he can say to a constituent or anyone else in the country who is wondering how he or she will fare and how he or she is fixed in terms of broadband that if he or she is to be supplied by the private sector, it will happen before the end of 2016, at a minimum 30 Mbps. That is important also because many people have access to broadband but not at adequate speeds. In fact, practically everybody has access to some broadband service, but it is not adequate. The private sector is to deliver a minimum figure of 30 Mbps by the end of 2016. The map is prospective to the end of 2016. If one is in the blue area, the private sector will deliver a service; it is up to the State to deliver the rest.

To return to Deputy Michael Moynihan’s point, it is about the State doing it properly once and for all. The Deputy gave me examples of school, educational, social and cultural use, to say nothing about the business opportunities in rural areas to create and maintain businesses. Tourism is an obvious sector. There are many other people in new innovative areas of business who depend on broadband, not just to download from the system but also to upload. We understand what the need is, but we want to do it properly. The private sector has given an undertaking to deliver between now and the end of 2016. Individual operational problems are a matter for the private operators to deal with, subject to the regulator in certain instances where undertakings have been given or contractual arrangements are not being followed. It is up to the private sector to do what it is supposed to do for its customers.