Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I think all present are in agreement on the importance of the NBP. I have a vivid recollection of chairing a meeting of the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment not too long ago, at which I and others were trying to convince certain people of the importance of the plan. It is great that members of all parties and none are advocating for the plan and its acceleration. There has been significant engagement on it. It is at the forefront of all our minds now, with Covid-19 and many people working from home. There has been significant engagement with the Department, local authorities and the CEOs in respect of issues being resolved there and the urgency around that. It is important. If the Deputy is aware of particular issues, I ask him to please also raise them with the Minister. The Department is aware of the issues and we are working with the local authorities to try to unlock any of those challenges and do whatever we can to accelerate the roll-out. The Government and the Minister will be writing to NBI with regard to that acceleration process and will continuously applying pressure to ensure we get that delivery.

NBI expects that 60,000 premises will be passed in 2021, across 17 deployment areas, including premises in counties Cork, Galway, Cavan, Limerick, Kerry, Wexford, Wicklow, Monaghan, Roscommon, Carlow, Tipperary, Louth, Mayo and Sligo. All present are acutely aware of the need to accelerate this process but Covid has had an impact on it. Of course, that does not negate the fact that we need to ensure we do everything we can to unlock any challenges or blockages within local authorities and put in place whatever assistance is necessary.