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

I cannot give the Deputy an answer but will give him a guesstimate in a second. I cannot give him an answer because it is in the filing cabinets that were delivered to the Department yesterday. The Department has to provide the solutions in terms of how the final connection is made.

Why I have said that the scheme will be predominantly fibre is as follows. The only way to future-proof the network for 25 years is to roll out fibre. There is no way to future-proof it for 25 years except by using fibre. I suspect the majority of the 342,000 homes will be a fibre solution, but technology is changing. In fact, in one particular town a process is being piloted that involves fibre to the gate and a wireless connection into the home. That means the last 50 metres or 100 metres connection would use new wireless technology. To answer the Deputy's question, I expect that well over half the 342,000 homes would have pure fibre outside their gates.