Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

You have asked a number of the questions, Chairman. We were informed, if I recall correctly, that the target of 60,000 premises to be passed by March was still in place at the time of our hearing. My understanding is that the most up-to-date figures we have received are that 41,000 premises or thereabouts were passed. I think that those figures relate to last month and that only a little over 9,000 premises had actually been connected. There is a problem here and, for the life of me, I do not understand why the Department is not live to that and reflecting the urgency of remedial actions in order to get this project back on track. We have talked about the huge costs involved in this project and the number of communities that are desperately awaiting broadband. The Government pursued this particular mechanism to deliver it and, clearly, NBI is not doing it in line with its own targets and milestones. We need to keep on top of this issue, particularly in respect of the penalties, as you have mentioned, Chairman, and whether or not they are being applied or whether or not they can be applied. The fact that penalties have not applied to date is concerning from my point of view.