Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 27 January 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

National Broadband Plan Update: National Broadband Ireland

Mr. T.J. Malone:

By the end of March we will have around 60,000 constructed and fully built at that point.

On some of the issues we have had, as Mr. Hendrick has said, most of those 60,000 are at a very advanced stage. Between 85% and 98% of them are completed at this stage. It is now about finishing out the final bits and pieces where we might have encountered an issue on the ground, for example, late in the day and we would just be getting those tied out and finished. The vast majority of that work is completed at this stage.

We were not immune to the effects of Covid, and during December and January we were particularly hard hit due to the Omicron variant. We were hit in January when up to 60% of our workforce in the field were affected and other contractors by up to 50%. We constantly hear this variant is not that bad, it is just a flu or, in some cases, just a cold. For anybody working in an office environment, that is fine and they can work from home or relocate, but one cannot build an infrastructure project from home.