Ms Joanne Mangan:

I do not have statistics on broadband connectivity or on where there may be broadband issues. I can only speak anecdotally to what some of our community members and the people we work with would say, which is that there are areas of the country where broadband is still an issue. Some members of our chapters in Dublin would even say that they sometimes have trouble with their broadband. Outside of the cities and in some of our more rural locations, there are definitely gaps in service which really hinders people's ability to work remotely. People need to have adequate broadband to be able to work remotely. It is really important. We are doing a remote call here today but if we had issues with broadband, this meeting could not have gone ahead. It is critically important to have good broadband. Obviously the national broadband plan is being rolled out and we hope that it will be expedited so that everyone in the country has access to high-quality, fast broadband because it is really essential. It was surprising for me to hear Mr. Hegarty talking about working on Achill Island. We have a lot of chapters in Donegal, a couple in Dingle and in west Cork. There are some areas where there is really great broadband, places where one would not expect that to be the case. It is really about making sure that it is consistent and available equally to everyone, wherever they need it.