Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The commitment agreement we have with Eir is that Eir must pass a home every minute of every working day for the next 77 weeks. That is a monumental task for the company and we have pushed it to the wire in that respect. I had looked at including in the contract intervention by individuals outside of this, but Eir was of the view that if this happened it would actually delay the roll-out. This is what we are tied into with Eir.

People look at this as an all-or-nothing situation. I am determined to make sure that people will have a long-term solution under the national broadband plan for every single premises in the intervention area. This does not mean that things are not happening at the moment. I urge people to go and look at the alternative options because there are options available. I was with a business last week in Deputy Eugene Murphy's constituency and they had the exact same argument; they are 500 yd. from the light blue area.

They had a wireless option, a mobile option and three fibre options at that site, but they did not realise it because they were looking at the Eir solution only. I encourage people to look at the other solutions that are available. Other operators and competitors are willing to provide services. I actively encourage people to consider them.

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