Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 19 June 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Kate O'ConnellKate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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That is where I was going next. Professor Reeves compared it to Eircom and explained it very well to us. In the case of Eircom, and Professor Reeves has done a lot of work on it, there were poles and cables attached to them and the ground around them, as such, but that is gone now and we cannot reverse that. I know it is regrettable as we could do with them to attach these cables but we are where we are today. This is a vital infrastructure just like electricity but it is not really comparable to Eircom because what we are dealing with here is the infrastructure as a cable but with Eircom it was the pole and the cable. With Eircom, it was an entire pathway through the country where in this instance this is not comparable.