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

The national broadband plan was originally scheduled to be completed by January 2027. We were delayed by Covid-19 in 2021 and could not get contractors in. The project was delayed but we are now back on track for that finishing date. Going back to what I said earlier, we are looking at whether we can get further budget provision to deliver earlier. That is on track; in fact, it is absolutely flying at the moment. That may allow us to complete it sooner than was originally expected.

The Deputy asked about the emergency alert system and quantum communications. I have to admit that I am not a real techie. We already have a system whereby an SMS message can be sent but this would allow an alert to show on every phone in certain circumstances. For instance, if there was a major ail pollution or other incident, we would be able to get a message delivered to every phone.