Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

The Minister did not reply on Deputy Coveney's question on the MANs II project, which is crucially important in my constituency.

Currently, backhaul speeds are appallingly slow and getting slower daily. This is a major challenge for small businesses throughout the country. The State owns a web of broadband fibre throughout the country. In my parish there are three separate broadband cables owned by the State within 500 yards of each other, but none of them are connected up. We still do not have a map of where these networks are - unless the Minister has such a map - or information on the connectivity or lack of it between the State agencies that own this fibre. I cannot get my hands on such a map. The Minister has spoken about going a step further with regard to State-owned ducting, but we do not have a national map available of the State-owned fibre. If we had, we could at least see what the challenge was in that regard. When will we see open access and connectivity to the fibre network that is already in State control and when will we see an improvement in the backhaul speeds?

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