Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

While I feel like something of a broken record on this issue, there is nonetheless a number of questions I would like to ask the Minister about recent events. We know now that there will be a judicial review following a challenge taken by a satellite broadband company to the terms of reference for the national broadband scheme. Can the Minister outline what the basis of that challenge is? He obviously cannot get involved in making the case one way or the other because that is for the courts to decide, but he can certainly give us an outline as to the basis of the concern behind that legal challenge. Do the Minister and his Department anticipate that this will delay the national broadband scheme proceeding? The scheme was due to start from June onwards.

Perhaps more importantly, can the Minister clarify how an area qualifies to be part of the national broadband scheme? The Minister seems to be suggesting that they are areas where the private industrial sector says it cannot provide broadband under normal market conditions — in other words, there is market failure. However, the areas the industry says it cannot cover do not tally accurately with areas where consumers say they cannot get broadband. What will happen in small pocket areas after July when consumers contact me or the Department to complain that they cannot get broadband facilities, but the industry does not necessarily agree? A map on the Minister's own website marks in red areas of the country that supposedly cannot currently receive broadband but which will be covered by this scheme. Those areas do not tally with the reality of many parts of the country which cannot get it. Will the Minister clarify how areas qualify to benefit from this scheme?

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