Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We will need to illustrate it. As the Deputy said, the basic idea is that people who do a €40,000 retrofit of their home will get €20,000 from the State and borrow €20,000, but the repayments on the €20,000 over ten years will be matched by the drop in their home heating and electricity costs. We will need to illustrate that when we communicate with the public. We have found that there is a huge demand for retrofitting. People are interested, especially because of the high energy prices and because there is more awareness of the need for climate action. A big part of what is driving it is simply comfort and the knowledge that a retrofitted home is a more pleasant and comfortable place to be.

The national broadband plan was a long time coming. An ambition to carry out such a project was announced by former Deputy Pat Rabbitte, as Minister, in 2012 or 2013. Later, as Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton signed the contract in 2019 and I know from my Department that he did not rush in and sign it right away. He took a good amount of time to ensure it added up. A degree of scepticism is healthy but too much scepticism becomes cynicism or pessimism. It was clearly the right thing to do. It is one of those projects for which the business case has massively improved. The project means that people who live in rural Ireland can get the benefit of foreign direct investment. They can live in Ballyhaunis and work for Apple. The provision of fibre to every home, farm and business under the national broadband plan is a clear and understandable social guarantee. It tells people they will be able to live closer to where they are from and closer to their families. They will be able to come home to their home towns and villages and be able to work, study and have their social lives to the same standard as in the cities.

Although the project progressed slowly at the start because of the Covid-19 pandemic and because of the contractor's inexperience, it is now running at pace. It will be completed on time and under budget. The reason I am asking for an additional allocation - the €67 million I am looking for - is that we are doing more homes that we expected to do this year. The rate of passing homes has far exceeded our target for the year. We only pay out subsidies to the contractor for the homes it connects or passes. We need more money because we are passing more homes, but the overall budget for the project has not changed. It is €2.1 billion with a contingency of €500 million. We do not expect to have to use the contingency money. We have a €2.1 billion project over seven years and I need some additional money this year because we are connecting more people than expected.