Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I beg to differ, as the Minister avoided my simple question. I do not want broadband. I want fibre broadband. Does the Minister agree that 30 Mbps is no longer considered high-speed broadband and that the only future-proof technology is fibre? Does she agree that the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources should stop messing about with 30 Mbps and opt instead for providing fibre to every home and business? These are simple questions. The Minister now has responsibility for rural development. What part of the national broadband plan does not relate to rural Ireland? My understanding is that urban areas are to be left to the market.

Regarding mobile telephony, will the task force that the Minister is setting up be able to recommend to the Government that it should, if necessary, make money available to the telecoms industry, having taken much money from it via licences and required a low threshold of coverage, so that the industry ensures that every road and house in the State is covered by mobile telephony as is required and as is the case in Scandinavian countries, which have sparser populations than we do?

See this speech in context