Mr. Mark Griffin:

They will get it in commercial sector. We are long past trying to re-engineer rural Ireland. We have a situation whereby there are several hundred thousand homes in rural Ireland that are entitled to be provided with an infrastructure that is required for things they need to do. As to the additional 60,000 houses to which the Deputy referred, the figures that are contained in the projections for the NBP are consistent with Project Ireland 2040 and the growth levels that are predicted therein. Project Ireland 2040 looks at a level of growth within Dublin and the five major cities, the county towns and so on. There was a proportion of growth that was allocated to rural Ireland. We are not proposing to build at levels that are beyond what is envisaged in Project Ireland 2040.

What one will see, for example, in the urban areas mentioned by the Deputy, is a commitment from Eir that it will provide a fibre overbuild over the next five years to Dublin, all of the major cities and a number of towns. Approximately 1.4 million premises will receive a fibre overbuild from the commercial sector.