Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First of all, I welcome the witnesses today and thank them. It has been useful and informative. In fact, many of the questions I was about to ask about information have been answered by Ms Collins.

This contract is without doubt the most important ever placed in the history of the State since rural electrification. I am happy that I was one of the people who supported this contract. Some of the people who are looking for action now were the very ones who were anxious to kick this to touch and go back to stage 1 again, which would have been detrimental to the people in rural areas.

I have a couple of questions. Is the company satisfied that its contract is solid? Is it satisfied that its contract is deliverable? Is it satisfied that funding will be available to complete this project? I ask that in the context of a number of people who are down the line in terms of connections who are concerned whether NBI will be still there, whether there will be funds and whether this process will be completed.

There were a number of issues I was to raise but I will not be repetitive. I will stick to one issue to reinforce what other members have said and that is this problem that we have with gaps. I am a public representative. We deal with the public on a wide variety of issues but I have never received as many complaints or queries as I have in terms of the gaps with broadband. There is a question to be asked here in terms of why, when this contract was made available, there was not some clause in it that would make it possible for a greater degree of co-operation between Eir and NBI. All of us here have cases where there is broadband within 200 m, across the ditch, across the road and up the road, and then there is this big group of houses, including, farmers and business people, which have no access to broadband. There was a time when broadband was optional. It is now an absolute necessity. I have a case of people 250 m from broadband. They need it for their own business. Their son is employed here in Dublin. He has to work from home and he has been told, because of the broadband access, his job is in jeopardy. That is the kind of situation that we are facing.

I also have a company that is literally next door to where the broadband is. This company employs 40 in a place called Templederry in Tipperary. The company does not have broadband access and it is hugely damaging to the company's ongoing business, particularly in marketing its business. Taking the different places where the broadband is, the surveys, design and cabling are done. Obviously, because there is a competitor, NBI does not have access to it. What can we do as a committee in terms of communicating with the Minister and the Government, and obviously, the Department? Is there anything that we can do to try and get these black spots prioritised and cabled? I know it will need co-operation from Eir. We have Eir in here next week and I think this will be our biggest bone of contention. I will give NBI an example of that. I have issues everywhere across Tipperary - my neighbours in Holy Cross, Boherlahan, Horse and Jockey, Clonoulty and Templederry.

One of the biggest examples I have is Terryglass. Terryglass is a beautiful village. It is on the lake. It attracts a lot of tourists and visitors. This is a good example of broadband issues in Tipperary. In March 2018, Eir put fibre broadband into the village. The broadband infrastructure was 90% complete. Then, in 2019, when NBI was granted the contact, Eir walked away from the area and never completed the works in Terryglass. One would have to ask the question-----