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

I have a suggestion for something it can put at the top of its agenda. During the recent lockdown, one of our networks went down every second day. Either a fixed broadband or mobile network went down every second day over the last six weeks. That should be at the top of the agenda and I cannot believe that the task force has not been re-established. Dr. O'Connor can take that back to the Department.

My second question is a bit closer to home and is relevant to all of the members here. The map on the national broadband plan website has two colours on it. The first is amber, which covers about 96% of the geographical area of the country, and National Broadband Ireland and its contractors are mapping those locations at the moment. Before Christmas they will bring fibre to the first of those houses and it will be rolled out in Deputy Ó Cuív's constituency early in the new year. That is great. People in dark blue areas have a mix of fibre to the door or fibre to the cabinet. In my constituency, Eir is bringing fibre to the door in the urban areas, and Virgin and Siro have done so as well. However, a cohort of people are in no man's land. They are not part of the current planned fibre roll-out by the commercial companies in urban areas, they are not getting a minimum of 30 Mbps over the existing copper wire from fibre to the cabinet, and they are not part of the National Broadband Ireland intervention as they are not in the amber area.

When one zooms in on the map, there are little pockmarks of amber in the dark blue areas. These are people who have been identified as not getting a minimum 30 Mbps for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They will be part of the National Broadband Ireland intervention. Some of them are within a mile of where we are sitting here in the city of Dublin, while some are in peripheral rural villages. However, I know of more than 80,000 homes across the country, besides those little pockmarks, that are not getting 30 Mbps. Some of them are getting 29 Mbps and some are getting 2 Mbps. Once National Broadband Ireland installs fibre in an area, it moves on because it has to meet its timelines, and these homes will then be left behind. These people will not be able to sell their homes. The value of their properties will depreciate dramatically because it would be like trying to sell a house without electricity or water where the buyer has to pay €5,000 to get them connected. People will not want those properties. What can be done in the short term to make people aware that if they are not getting this service at the moment, they need to report it and ensure they are part of the intervention? There are a substantial number of people who do not know that, have not reported it and are going to be left behind.