Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The timetable is that there is a hearing for a judicial review on 10 June. My expectation and hope is that it will not unduly delay the development of the completion of contracts and the roll-out of the programme. That is something that will be subject to judicial decision but my firmly held expectation is that we will continue this project on time and deliver as soon as possible because we do need it urgently as a piece of public infrastructure.

As regards how an area qualifies, the only way is to see what services are available at present. The nature of the scheme is designed to concentrate on areas that do not have coverage, which is exactly what it is doing. This is a changing area and broadband penetration has effectively doubled in the past year. Nine months ago we did not have a single customer on mobile broadband, while now there are 129,000 such customers. Therefore the facility is rolling out and changing in an evolving process about which we cannot be exact until we actually set the deadline. Even in the two or three months between now and that time we may see technology being rolled out. It is right for us to concentrate on areas that do not have coverage.

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