Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The trading online voucher scheme has been hugely successful. Of the 9,000 businesses that have engaged with us, just short of 50%, or about 4,000, have taken up the voucher. We can get the exact figures for the committee. We have analysed the businesses that have taken it up and have found that, on average, their sales have increased by one fifth, employment has increased by one third, and two thirds of those companies are now trading internationally. With the roll-out of pure fibre to every single premises in about 60 provincial towns across the country, as well as the roll-out of high-speed broadband to the vast majority of villages across rural Ireland, all of which is through pure fibre, opportunities are now being given to many businesses to start trading online that have not traded there to date.

The spend on the national broadband plan up to the end of June was €4.4 million. To date, approximately €7 million has been spent.