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

I thank the witnesses for their time. There has been a dramatic ramping up of the delivery of broadband infrastructure, both wired and wireless, over the past number of years. I acknowledge that this is down to the efforts of each and every witness and the teams they represent here. We have come a long way from the discussions we have had in the committee previously on meeting targets for premises past. Thankfully, this whole discussion has moved on. We are now looking at connection from the pole to the door rather than getting it on the pole at all. I acknowledge that we have come a long way. What is important now is that we ensure every single home, insofar as is possible, gets access to a pure fibre connection as quickly as possible and no later than the end of 2026. We asked Open Eir to be part of this meeting today to deal with the reddish brown areas, but we will be bringing its representatives in separately to specifically deal with that. We will also be dealing separately with the mobile phone network because it is important.

I thank the witnesses for their engagement with the committee and with Members of both Houses, but more importantly for the work they are doing in delivering what is a vital piece of infrastructure into homes right across this country. We look forward to the time when will not have to call them in before the committee in the future because the job will be done. I thank them very much for their time.