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

I accept the point that Deputy Brendan Smith makes. He is correct. Rural communities that are dependent on agriculture, light engineering and the agrifood sectors are the ones that are most exposed to Brexit and have the most to gain by the delivery of the national broadband plan. That is why I am determined to ensure that we get this contract signed as quickly as possible, and more importantly, that we see the physical roll-out of infrastructure right across this country taking place as soon as possible. On an ongoing basis, I am engaging with fibre, wireless and mobile providers to see how the State can facilitate them in the commercial deployment of that infrastructure in order that the businesses to which the Deputy refers at least can be provided with a service, albeit not the gold-plated service they will get under the national broadband plan. At this stage, many of those businesses need a service. It would be great to have a high-speed service but a service is better than none. We are trying to ensure that at least that happens in the short term to ensure those companies have a service that meets their day-to-day needs, pending the roll-out of the national broadband plan.

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