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

The tender was submitted earlier today. That will be gone through by a team comprising approximately 80 people who have been involved in this procurement process, which also includes external advice that was available to the Department.

This procurement process has been complex. I accept it is quite technical. It is unique in terms of its level of ambition, vision and challenge. Thirty seven percent of our population live on 96% of the landmass of Ireland. This is unique in European, if not global, terms. Through this procurement process, we have been designing a technical solution that not only meets the needs of today and tomorrow but of the next generation and the one after that. I have given on occasion in this House examples of the previous scheme, the national broadband scheme, and the day it went live it was obsolete. This network will meet the needs of today, tomorrow, next year, the year after that and those of years to come.

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