Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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I will deal with Deputy Stanley's issues first. I will address the broadband issue first. There is much happening in this area. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, and his Department are very determined that broadband is rolled out. I draw the committee's attention to the monthly magazine issued on the Department's website that provides information on the national broadband plan. One can go to the site and see where one's area is in the plan. It gives the updated versions of what is happening in this area.

The information on the website is quite detailed and will be beneficial for members who need to be constantly informed. The next step in the national broadband plan is the comprehensive intervention strategy, which is to be brought to Government in June, to be followed by a public consultation process over the summer and the procurement phase in the autumn. It is hoped to be in a position to select a preferred bidder by 2016. The physical build should take from three to five years to complete. It covers 750,000 premises, equivalent to 100,000 km of road and 96% of land mass.

This hugely complex and high-tech project needs to be planned in a very careful way. The Deputy compared it to the electrification of Ireland all over again. While everybody is very anxious because they cannot see anything and it is taking time for one of the largest infrastructural projects to be rolled out, I think, and perhaps the Deputy would agree with me, that rather than doing something in an ad hocway, we should plan carefully so that, like the electrification project, when the electricity is switched on it actually stays on and we do not experience flickering.