Mr. Mark Griffin:

I will keep it as short as I can but I will set out the progress made in 2020. This is really important in terms of how the programme for 2021 to 2023 will be framed, which is what the Deputy is interested in. The key concern of the Deputy, along with every householder in the intervention area, is when the connections will happen. There will be an announcement later today that National Broadband Ireland, NBI, has made the first connections in the Deputy's own county around Carrigaline. NBI is working across 26 counties and has surveyed more than 160,000 premises, with 120,000 premises progressing through or having completed detailed design. Construction is under way in 19,000 premises and will be under way across every county on approximately 130,000 premises by the end of the year. That is construction and we expect, by the end of the year, to have approximately 70,000 premises completed.

I may ask Mr. Mulligan to comment on this and he describes it very well. The first year of this contract was about building the runway, and once it is built - it is fairly well built - we will see a flow of premises through the final construction phases starting to ramp up very considerably during the course of 2021, 2022 and 2023. Mr. Mulligan is very close to what is happening on the ground. I know the Deputy has asked many parliamentary questions on this matter over the past while.