Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his opening statement. I want to revisit that issue of the connectivity blackspots and those hard-to-connect areas. I know there was a suggestion that we will end up - and to a large degree, it is related to the success of the roll-out of the national broadband plan, which we hope continues apace - having better services available in more rural parts and uptake will be what uptake will be. However, in many urban areas, you will have poorer-quality service and then you are in that conundrum of the commercial viability of connecting and improving.

One of the suggestions was that those areas that do not have good connectivity at the minute would be bundled together and auctioned in a Dutch auction. Is that something the Minister has considered or what are the options on the table? I think the idea that we are some years away and this stuff takes years to get addressed will be a concern for many people. You can see, in a relatively short period of time, where the roll-out of the national broadband plan brings lots of people up to a standard and there is a risk with regard to the providers - whether it be Eir, SIRO or whoever it is - and the commercial viability is not there from their end, while folks either already have or maintain a poor service, or else do not have a connection at all where there are new developments. I wonder what options are on the table and being considered, and if there is any prospect that it could move more apace. This stuff needs to be ubiquitous and it is hugely important for people, as we all know.