Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I also welcome the clarity that he has brought to many of the key issues in the national broadband plan and where it is going forward.

Deputy Eamon Ryan spoke about the 32,000 extra homes moving into the amber zone, which is welcome. We should support the regeneration of rural areas, including one-off housing, whether they are agriculture, fishing or tourism based. We need these people to keep rural communities alive. Having an additional 32,000 rural homes in the next 25 years is positive and a step forward. It is important that the Minister has provided that clarification. That means approximately 575,000 homes will be connected in the next three or four years. I do not share Deputy Ryan's views on that being negative; it is very positive because it ensures rural communities will have the ability to survive and renew.

There has been great fanfare about one Department making a submission on the national broadband plan and having a negative impact. How many Departments made submissions on it? There has obviously been significant engagement in the process, but we have talked extensively about one submission made by one Department. Have there been others from other Departments? What did they state about the plan? We need a balanced approach to it. If we were to say, "Stop," and start the entire process again, when would the 575,000 homes get broadband? Would it even happen in the next decade? Does the Minister believe this is an golden opportunity to deliver for the people concerned, of whom 75,000 live in County Cork? We are the ones most grossly affected when it comes to the lack of high speed broadband. Some 13.5% of the people on the list live in County Cork. I live in a constituency that is more than 130 miles wide. Some members of this committee could walk across their constituency in two hours. I cannot drive across mine in two hours. That is the significant difference. On the doorstep people tell me that the biggest issue is the lack of broadband. One can talk about low speed broadband, but they do not even have dial-up Internet access. This is a real issue. If we were to say, "Stop," and scrap the plan and enter into a completely new tendering process, when would there be a suitable broadband connection for the people who contact my office every day of the week? When would they have the opportunity to survive and prosper in rural areas?