Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not reiterate the data I have provided for the Deputy, but, suffice it to say, we are at the final stage of evaluation. A few nights ago we had a debate in which many concerns were raised. The reason the work is ongoing is we wish to tease out the issue of the robustness of technology and so forth.

On the use of technology, bidders had access to the entire network. There is an intention to use the networks of both Eir and the metropolitan areas. Therefore, existing infrastructure is being used where possible, although delivering fibre optic cable to homes will require substantial new infrastructure.

In the vast majority of cases fibre broadband will be delivered to the home. The approach envisaged throughout the process has been that up to 2% could be provided for otherwise than by fibre broadband to the home, with a request that it could go to a higher number on agreement. However, in the vast majority of cases fibre broadband will be delivered to the home.

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