Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Per month excuse me. It is a pretty astonishing number. It is fantastic to see. Arising from Deputy O'Rourke's contribution in respect of areas in urban environments where there are gaps, I am aware of a further gap. It might be a matter for ComReg but the Minister of State might have a view on it or it might have arisen before. There are a number of estates built in the noughties with contracts between the developer and a broadband provider. In a lot of cases it is a telephone and Internet service provider. In the particular estate I am thinking of - I know this applies to other estates in my constituency and south Dublin - there is a particular provider contracted to the builder and the builder is no longer on the scene. There is now a management company with directors and all the rest of it, owned by the residents. This is a taken-over estate which will never be in public control but one Internet provider and the service is often very poor. The standard offering is 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps, along with telephone services and whatever else. I cannot help but feel that was not what we, as a State, wanted to happen. I wonder whether NBI or ComReg have a role to play in this. Ultimately, it is about the trunking or cable ducting being in the ownership of one part, although that is not really the case as it was a contract with a developer that is no longer on the scene. I wonder whether there is a solution to that.

This is a fantastic success and it is really good to see. It is great to acknowledge it and to see it working sufficiently well that the Department is having to come back and ask for more money as it is ahead of schedule. There is a little bit of cold comfort to the families and individuals at the end of a lane a few hundred metres away from the end of the existing roll-out. There is a bit of that in my constituency and may well be a bit of it in the Minister of State's constituency. As to the end point that Deputy O'Rourke referred to, is that an absolute complete delivery of all 97%? I am wondering whether it is going to capture all locations across the State or whether there are still going to be a few areas where there will have to further evaluation done as to whether NBI can provide a service to that location. I am thinking about the individuals who are on a waiting list and there is ambiguity as to when the service will actually be hooked up. During Covid a university lecturer whom I happen to know very well who lives in rural Swords did not have a reliable broadband connection through which she could deliver her lectures. I volunteered my office in Malahide. I work from home. It worked out in the end, which was great. There are other scenarios, however, where that would not arise or be suitable. Does the Minister of State wish to comment on that?