Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The questions that I am being asked are, first, are these systems as secure as fibre? I have no doubt that they are but we will have to look into that further. Second, are they subject to contention? In other words, what happens if everyone gets on at the same time? Third, if this is the solution, why is it not being rolled out around the country to the boxes? Fourth, can we have it so that it is the solution for the islands, as opposed to rolling out the cable? This question has nothing to do with NBI because it is just fulfilling its contract. It is actually directed at the Department and the Government.

What I cannot understand is that a lot of the islands need upgraded electrical supplies. With the exception of Inishturk and Tory Island, they are all connected to the mainland with a physical cable. I think Tory and Inishturk still have generators. They originally used to have generators but there was too much hassle, so they put a cable under the ground. There is a strong case to be made to the Department, not to NBI, which should just do its business and just tell us which islands are involved. That is what we need from NBI. I think there is a good case to upgrade the electricity supply for the islands, both inwards and outwards. This would be of assistance if the islands want to export electricity from renewable energy sources, or to import more electricity because they are all using more electricity. It would also give resilience if one cable goes down, as happened in Aran, which got a second cable.

From a technological point of view, I understand that if one is doing that, in the same dredging one could put in a fibre cable at the same time, so the dredging cost would be the same as if one is putting in one cable. We did that again in the Aran Islands in Galway years ago, when we put in electricity and water at the same time when the dredger went across. It dug the water trench and then it dug the electrical trench. The big cost is getting the dredgers there, not the actual dredging. I wonder if the Department has costed the cost to the State of providing the alternative of fibre to the offshore islands that at the moment will not be getting fibre, in conjunction with electricity and in some cases mainland water supply? Water supply is becoming a problem for some islands.