Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Minister's amenable approach to my request but the facts remain that the legal document will request a minimum of 30 Mbps. I accept that contractors are capable of delivering higher speeds but does it not make sense to request what is ultimately required rather than making it something that is nice to have or an option that will probably be taken? The truth is that all they will deliver is the minimum speed with the capacity to scale in time. My concern - I am sure it is shared by the Minister because of his understanding of rural Ireland, which nobody could question - is that we must ensure the people in the rural area covered by this scheme have exactly the same capacity to remain in step with people in the more densely populated areas, where there is greater competition and higher speeds can be delivered much more cheaply. If we are putting in resources now, let us force the companies to deliver the higher speed. Even if the Minister indicated the minimum would be 30 Mbps at the beginning before setting a target by which they had to reach 100 Mbps, I would find some solace in it. We must push the contractors and there is only one opportunity to do that, which is before they sign up.

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