Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Is the Minister aware that Northern Ireland, which had a similar start date in respect of the provision of broadband facilities, now has 100% service? Is he further aware that the original target set by his Department of 500,000 connections has been miserably missed and that a Forfás report issued at the end of 2005 clearly indicates a serious deficit in terms of broadband penetration as compared with other industrialised countries with which we are in competition? Can the Minister take any initiatives to accelerate the speed with which broadband is made available and allow for the delivery to the customer of the benefits of deregulation and local loop unbundling, removing all the obstacles that have proven so significant in regard to broadband provision?

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