Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

To clarify, there is an opportunity for Eir or any other private operator to apply to provide a service in any part of this country. If operators did so, that would be fine, but they are not. They have made applications, but they also have to provide a service that is of a high speed and of a speed that will remain high, going up to 100 Mbps for the next 35 years. Eir is in the private sector. We sold Eircom a long time ago, so we cannot dictate to the company. The closing date for submissions is 30 September. The submission, which we invited it to make, is being assessed right now. If the Deputy is saying Eir says it needs political influence, he should note it is a private company and has to make its own decisions. It is so important to get the national broadband plan going because the private sector has failed to provide broadband of the required quality to 1.1 million people in this country, including those the Deputy and I know about. That is why we need to get on with the national broadband plan.

See this speech in context