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

No. As many as 300,000 rural homes get pure fibre at the moment. There are 842,000 homes in total and, if one does the maths, it is predominantly but it is not just that. At this time, 900,000 premises across provincial towns and rural Ireland get pure fibre outside their doors. My estimate is conservative. As I have always done up to now, I have used conservative estimates because I do not know what is in the Department's filing cabinet. I suspect the figure is higher. I am not going to tie myself to a figure that I cannot stand over and I will explain way. I am sick of my predecessors coming in here and picking figures out of the sky only for the figures to end up being a bottle of smoke. I have been on this bandwagon long before there ever was one and when it was only a bicycle. When I was in opposition, I was the only one who spoke about broadband. People looked at me as if I had two heads when I spoke about it. The Deputy will be well aware of that situation and can acknowledge it. I know the issues and I knew them long before anyone else here even realised that broadband was a political issue. The service is not about politics. It is about providing a service to people who live in rural Ireland. Just like running water and electricity, they have a right to broadband. I am determined to fulfil that right and to do so as quickly as possible. The scheme will not take the same of length of time it took to bring water or electricity to rural Ireland. I am not going to be a Minister who goes around with a car boot full of telephones, handing them out to people and telling them the telephones will be connected in a few weeks. Some of those telephones are still in Donegal awaiting connection. We can and we will deliver the service, and it will be delivered quickly.