Mr. Fintan O'Brien:

I thank the Chair and the Senator. There are two questions on our side. The first one related to a converted old school linked to the work of a community group and what funding might be available. There are a couple of possible funding streams that we have in place at the moment. For example, funding can be provided under the scheme such as the town and village renewal or the rural regeneration and development fund, depending on what sort of project one is looking at. We fund a number of projects with regard to the use of buildings and many of them are developing digital services.

One of the things we are working on at the moment is our calendar for the 2024 schemes. This is about getting the timing for them correct. We release that then at the start of next year to ensure that everybody is aware of all of the different funding opportunities available for community groups. By and large, such schemes are delivered through local authorities and there is a requirement for local authorities to directly engage with community groups o the development of projects which might have potential.

If one is looking at something more focused on, for example, making a broadband connection point in a building, that process is actually closed at the moment but we have the possibility of substituting out a BCP for a new BCP. That is very much done in consultation with the local authorities.

On the role of the broadband officers, which is a key role for us, we have done some work on that recently and we spend a good deal of time keeping in communication with the broadband officers. I might just hand over to my colleague, Mr. Whelan, to give the most recent update on that.