Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is the kernel of the issue. It is about whether the contract needs to be altered by the Government to allow Eir to proceed. There are scores of areas throughout the country, including my own, where the Eir roll-out is coming. We can talk about the major issue in relation to broadband, but this is specifically about the contract that has been given by the Government to Eir. We have communities in places where the company is stopping, yet there are only three or four more houses to go on the line. Instead, a different line comes from a different direction. We have places like Banteer, Knocknagree, Bweeng, Cullen, Newmarket, Lisrobin, Boherbue and Ballinora where this is coming to a specific location. We have contacted the Department which says it is Eir's responsibility to extend the line. When we contact Eir, it says it is prohibited from going any further because of the contract it has been given by the State. Someone needs to tell us who is blocking this and how it can be changed. It makes no sense from a logistical or common-sense point of view to have roads being divided completely by this. The Minister must look at it and ensure there is flexibility within the contract to allow the company to complete a particular section of road which may involve only three or four houses. In some instances, there are different telephone exchanges coming from either side, with one or two houses are left in the middle. Eir tells us the Government and the contract prohibit it from extending it and the Government tells us it is Eir. Both cannot be right. Someone somewhere is telling untrue stories. We need to get to the bottom of it and we need flexibility to allow common sense to prevail. There is a whole different argument about the fact that the different commitments on broadband do not add up.

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