Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Mulligan has just reminded me of a question. If I live in one of the 542,000 homes in the intervention area, why would the State facilitate me with a better level of service? In other words, because there is a lesser cost it will make it easier for me to switch than if I lived in the area of 300,000 homes. I thought the purpose of this intervention was to level the playing field so that somebody in Haddington Road gets the same service if he or she has fibre to the home as somebody living in west Clare, Westport or wherever. The people I represent want to get broadband. They are not overly concerned about the rates of switching out afterwards. That will be a commercial decision they will make. However, the objective from the taxpayer's point of view is to provide access to high-speed broadband. What a consumer does afterwards is his or her choice. If consumers want to switch services, they can pay for it. I have no issue with that and I suspect most people do not.