Dr. Stjohn O'Connor:

The Chairman is correct about this issue and we have been dealing with it for the past three or four years. We have asked the broadband officers about it and I reiterate the message we have been giving for almost three years. If a person's premises is in that situation, that person needs to record the speeds available and then send an email to broadband@decc.gov.ie for the Department to record it. I understand that NBI recently attended the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks, where it indicated that it would engage on this subject. The first thing, which we have been saying repeatedly for three years, is that we need to know where those locations are and they must be categorised and sent in to the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. If any Deputy or Senator is in a similar boat, he or she needs to talk to the broadband officer in the first instance, capture that data and then make sure it gets sent on to the Department. It is primarily an issue for the Department because it manages the national broadband plan but that is the message we have been pushing out to all the broadband officers for the last three years. We know it is happening every day because I get copied on a lot of those emails. The message is quite simple. If people are in that situation and are not getting the relevant speeds, they need to alert broadband@decc.gov.ie.