Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want the Deputy to keep his powder dry on that because it is one we will come back to. I know well that students from County Longford will also be interested in questions about mobile phone coverage in north Longford.

I have a couple of questions, and I am going to start at European level and come back to local level. Legally, the definition of high-speed broadband is 30 Mbps, which is an absolute joke, and the problem with that definition is at EU level. The European Commission is talking about the gig economy and how everybody will have access to 1 Gbps of broadband by 2030, yet we are still looking at high-speed broadband being defined as 30 Mbps. What is the status of that and when are realistic figures for the definition of high-speed broadband going to be introduced at EU level? This has implications in Ireland for people who are not in the amber area and are theoretically in the blue area on the national broadband plan, but who are, unfortunately, getting only 30 Mbps or 31 Mbps. In fact, they are in the reddish-brown area, because they are not in blue or amber and they are caught in between the two. This cohort of people are usually on the edges of towns and villages and the NBI cable is outside their door, but they cannot legally connect to it because of a perverse EU definition of high-speed broadband at 30 Mbps. What is the status of the change in that? This has long been promised by the Commission to be changed. What are we as a country doing to push the Commission to come up with a realistic figure for the definition of high-speed broadband?

On that issue, Mr. Hendrick stated earlier that 669 schools have been connected by NBI, with the remaining three schools to be connected this month. Are any of them in Roscommon?