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

As Senator Leyden knows better than anyone - we represent the same constituency - and Senator McDowell lives some of the time in the constituency, one in every two premises in the constituency will not have access to high-speed broadband at the end of the commercial roll-out process. That is not an acceptable situation. That is why I am not only pushing the State intervention aspect of the national broadband plan, to which I will return, but working with the commercial operators to facilitate them in rolling out network in rural areas. Senator Leyden knows that in our constituency we have a very good wireless operator in Eurona Ireland and Imagine has rolled out network as well across rural areas. Other investors are now coming in as a result of me releasing the 3.6 GHz spectrum that will provide new 5G services, point to point services.

The mobile telephone companies are also getting involved in that. That will improve the quality of service in members' homes and businesses and in every rural home and business among those 542,000. I am anxious that as many of those as possible get a broadband service as quickly as possible. We are doing that. Some 171 premises a day are getting access to a fixed broadband service. There are additional homes being connected every day.

Senator Leyden knows the history of this and he is correct. Ours was the first country in the world to digitise our telecommunications system. We were a global leader in that regard. To go back further, Ireland was also a global leader in being the first country in the world to bring electricity to every home in the country. We will be the first country in the world to bring high speed broadband to every home. In fact, globally, everyone is looking at the challenge we have in this regard so they can piggyback on what we are doing. I accept that it is a complex procurement process. I would prefer a far simpler process than the one we are going through. However, I participated in the debates in the House on the electronic voting machines that were eventually scrapped. I also remember, as does every other rural member of the committee, the great saviour the national broadband scheme was to be. The contract was signed with 3 and the day it went live, it was obsolete. This will not be obsolete because this is a 25-year contract. This is not about broadband for tomorrow, next month or next year, but broadband for this generation and the one that follows. This contract will ensure the network is built out into every home and premises, including every isolated rural premises, across Ireland and meets the needs of the future. When this is built out, people in urban Ireland will be demanding the same service as the people in Ballymacward have, because they will be ahead of them in that regard.

Deputy Dooley asked about a timetable and milestones. He is correct that it is imperative to put timetables and milestones in place. I was not prepared to sign the Eir commitment agreement unless timetables and milestones were put in place. The Deputy has not asked me questions on that because we have reached all of our milestones to date for our first, second and third quarters. On foot of being able to pin Eir to that under the commitment agreement, SIRO has now reached a point where it is passing 10,000 premises every month for pure fibre. Now, Enet is coming into it. It is a little disingenuous and inaccurate to talk about the bidder of Granahan McCourt Capital, Enet, SIRO and John Laing Group being a minor player. It is wrong of the Deputy to give that impression.