Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree that ducting is preferable. It is less susceptible to storms. A lot of fibre was brought down earlier in the week by Storm Debi. There are advantages to ducting, but there can be disadvantages. One reason there was a difficulty ramping up in early days was that some of the ducting quality was not as good as originally expected. It might be blocked and not as accessible as originally planned. The reason we are accelerating is NBI and Eir are working together to remedy those problems when they arise. This is a good example of how, for this to work, collaboration is needed between Eir, the national broadband plan and the local authorities. They are, to be honest, best placed to make the call about the right technical solution. Part of that should not just be cost, but security with regard to not presenting other difficulties down the line like storms or other elements. That has to be decided at a local level.