Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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There are two issues in regard to that letter. The first is that it does not outline anything regarding the contracts that NBI has agreed with contractors. I understand that one of the contractors is based in England and did not perform at all during Covid-19 and the lockdown period, whereas the other company did. The second issue concerns page 2 of the letter which refers to information on the use of existing infrastructure. I have huge concerns about this. Where Eir infrastructure is already in place and is based in what we would call an amber area, we find that Eir is not prepared to connect to any property in the that area even though it already has the infrastructure in place.

It is extremely difficult where there is infrastructure in place bordering on an amber area or a blue area. There seems to have been no engagement with Eir in dealing with that issue. It is something that we need. We could have a far faster connection of premises if there was the engagement with Eir with regard to the borderline areas in the context of the blue and the amber areas. We need to take this up with the Department as to why that engagement has not taken place with Eir.