Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The national broadband plan is critical infrastructure. It was obviously affected by the onset of Covid-19 last year and also during the first months of this year. There have been a variety of difficulties, including with contractors coming over from the UK and workers being out because they have tested positive or have been close contacts of someone else who has tested positive. Development has in some ways been hindered by those difficulties. However, more than 178,000 premises have been surveyed as of 15 February. In addition, since 25 January just about every main broadband retailer and provider has been keen to resell these services. Premises in Cork, Cavan and Galway have been connected, with Limerick to follow in the coming months.

Turning to stopgap measures, there have been examples of where it has been frustrating for people regarding networks. A neighbour may get a high-speed broadband connection, but then for a variety of network reasons the next house down is not included. I understand that some of the operators are looking at those exceptional cases, where some extension might be possible. On the satellite aspect, I will be honest and state that in recent times I have not heard of or been approached by developers looking at such satellite options. It has always been a possible option, but I think the difficulty lies in the speed of and delays in connections.