Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State and the Department officials for coming in.

It is important that we get this through. It is good to get an insight into the workings of it as well. I welcome the assurance from the Minister of State that he is working on potential funding for Longford County Council, both in respect of the LPT and rates. The Minister of State put significant work into getting €1.2 million for the local authority in Longford this year to offset that rates shortfall but, as he is well aware, it will be a major issue right up until 2026 as the power station was not originally scheduled to close until 2027. In terms of moving forward, the local authority is anxious to see certainty of funding to take it up to 2026.

Although it is not his area, the Minister of State, who comes from the other rural half of our constituency, will be well aware of the concerns about the roll-out of broadband. That is why this is so important. We can have no excuse for the national broadband plan and it needs to be rolled out. The Minister of State will also be aware that we have an issue in Edgeworthstown where we are trying to get Eir to connect the new public hub that is going to be opened there right across the road from the new public library. Edgeworthstown is the second largest town in County Longford. These are the two biggest capital projects in Edgeworthstown in recent times and it is regrettable that Eir has not met the project promoters halfway and taken the strides necessary to put in place the fibre connection that they need for this. The Minister of State is working quietly on this issue in the background. I have also raised it with the Minister with direct responsibility in the area. It seems somewhat remiss if we go ahead with opening a hub for remote working and we are not able to assure the users that they will have fibre broadband in the second largest town in County Longford. Any assistance the Minister of State and his officials can give us in addressing that would be greatly appreciated.