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

The job of the Minister is never to be satisfied at the speed of the roll-out of anything. It is our job to kick everything on. From my experience, and I said this in opposition as well as in government, the team we have in place in the Department is world-class in terms of skills, composition and dedication. National Broadband Ireland is giving it full throttle. It is in its interests for this to accelerate. It wants to get customers. It wants to pass as many houses as possible. There have been obstacles. The committee knows this better than anyone. Many of those obstacles have been overcome. We had obstacles with regard to getting planning permission for poles to go in. Through very active engagement with local authorities, in fairness to them, they were overcome. There is a very particular and significant obstacle at present in terms of the quality of some of the ducting and the need for resolutions on a far more frequent basis than had been predicted or expected. The delay in getting some of these ducting issues cleared is one of the reasons it has been delayed. I am confident these difficulties will be overcome. The structure and teams involved are highly capable and highly committed.