Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I think he is right. One of the things that was exposed was that the regulatory environment was certainly designed at a time when climate change was not going to be the enemy of wires and poles that it is, together with trees that have ash dieback and a whole clatter of other things. I am not satisfied that there was a sufficient response when parts of west Cork and west Mayo, for instance, were left without connectivity for 19 weeks. Ireland is a very wealthy country. In 2025, being left without a connection for 19 weeks is not appropriate. The companies had their usual excuses. As a result of that, and I have discussed this with my own officials, the regulatory environment around ComReg is something we are looking at, particularly the protections for consumers and the provision of information to customers. Some of the information that went out through my Department, because it was reliant on the providers, was not accurate. We have to make sure that is not the case in the future.