Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

It is the technical and scientific assessment. There will always be houses that cannot be covered for a variety of reasons. Even in our current system under the universal service obligation, which we discussed earlier, there are houses that the fixed-line provider cannot get to. In such circumstances alternatives will always be put in place. In terms of broadband, the most likely development is the use of satellite to connect such locations if they cannot be connected by any other means. We are not leaving any houses behind. The aim of the scheme is to ensure that areas currently without broadband get it by whatever technology is selected by the winners of the competitive tender — whether it is Y-Mex, wireless, 3G or fixed-line. That is something the winning company in the tendering process will have to decide. The design of the scheme is to get to those areas that are not covered. One must use a map to decide what those areas are. The only way of deciding it is on the basis of scientific analysis of what is available.

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