Mr. T.J. Malone:

I will hand over to Mr. Hendrick to deal with the issue of the gap areas. The Deputy made a number of other points that I will address. The Deputy is right in what he heard in respect of making up the lost ground. We are currently six months behind on the programme but it is absolutely our intention to make that time up and bring it back within the initial seven-year plan. That is our intent and it is absolutely what we are planning. We are very confident that we can do that.

As regards materials and the rise in the cost of materials within the contract, I refer to the overall envelope of subsidy that has been allowed for this project. Any increases above and beyond that entire subsidy fall to NBI to cover. Likewise, the Department has inserted a clause whereby it has the ability to recoup from NBI savings resulting from reductions across the board in materials, etc. There is a robust contract in place to cover those matters.

In the context of Tipperary, there are approximately 29,500 properties in the county. None of them have yet gone live or been passed but several projects are under construction and will be going live towards the end of this year or at the start of next year. These include Tipperary town and its perimeter deployment area, as well as Clonmel, which is coming under construction, and Roscrea. There are several areas where work is under way. Tipperary is probably well served from that point of view. We believe that approximately 10,500 premises in the Tipperary area will be passed and ready for service by the end of 2023.

As regards engagement with Tipperary County Council, we have found it very good to deal with, as has been the case with the vast majority of local authorities.

We have found no issues there at all. This is also the case with the majority of people, who are open, helpful and looking to see how they can speed things up with us.