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

I thank the Minister. On the connections, it is always a kind of headline figure and people are generally surprised by it. I do not have it here but he had it in his opening statement, that is, the significant number of properties passed, in the tens of thousands, and the number connected. What we hear - and I think it is understandable and logical - is that people are in contracts, and they are maybe waiting to get out of their contract before they switch on to the better technology. My question is: is the Minister satisfied that the rate of connection is in line with what is expected? Is there a penalty and is the State subsidising if there is a lower level of connection, or is there a guaranteed income in terms of NBI's income? Is it dependent on a certain amount of connections or is that built into the contract anyway?