Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. Those in the 542,000 homes and businesses in rural areas who do not have broadband, who will not have commercial broadband and whose service will not be enhanced by anything the Minister has said with regard to the mobile world want to know when they can expect to see a tender go to the marketplace. What kind of expectation is there in terms of a completion date? I ask the Minister to set out a timetable for when he expects to see the contracts signed, the work beginning and the work being completed. The fact that the Minister has spent most of the time for his initial reply talking about anything other than that is deeply worrying to me and to the occupants of the aforementioned 542,000 premises. They are really concerned because there is no clarity as to when, or if, the work will be completed. I ask the Minister to confirm that the three tenderers for this work are still interested. Have they indicated whether they are still interested in this project, given the way in which it has been handled by the Department?

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