Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I wish to pick up on the point of certain legacy issues. I echo Deputy Carthy's concerns about the roll-out of this. We discussed this before the contract was awarded and had concerns about the ability of the particular entity to deliver the broadband plan in the intervention area. As there was only one bidder, it was not as if there was a choice. We understand that Covid has been an issue but we are now starting to see serious slippages and it is important for us to keep on top of this. The Department is permitted to apply penalties if the plan does not roll out in the way that it should. That paragraph in the correspondence refers to certain legacy issues resulting from Covid-19. It states that NBI expects to submit a plan very shortly. We should look for a copy of that plan because it will give us some indication. If the Department does not have it yet, we should look for it to provide it to us when it is provided to the Department.

Can we get a schedule of works to be provided for the 679 primary schools along with their locations? We need to keep a close eye on this matter. That was an area where one would have expected-----