Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. Does he have indicative figures in respect of the type of ramping up or the timeline? He stated that many more people will be included in the scheme. How many will be included? The turnaround time from assessment to works being completed is more than two years in many cases. Is there an estimate for when that might be reduced to a more reasonable timeframe? I do not know if that is provided for at this stage or whether it will be included in later plans. I ask the Minister of State to address that issue.

I refer to the €1.5 million for carbon credits. To what does that relate? Is it just the normal state of affairs or does it relate to missed targets or specific measures?

On the broadband plan, funding is shifted away from it, largely to energy schemes. There is an imminent target of in the region of 60,000 homes being passed by the end of January. How many of those homes have been passed at this stage, two months out from the target date?

The issue of the doubling-up of homes that were passed by private operators was discussed recently at the transport committee. Does the Minister of State have an update on those figures? It was reported that 45,000 homes that were on the national broadband plan had been passed by private operators. Is that the case?