Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the roll-out of the national broadband plan. This new superhighway communications infrastructure will combat isolation in rural Ireland and foster population growth and development. This issue has been raised at the doors in recent years in the context of remote access, remote working, reduced commuting times and the compliance concerns of the farming population. A great deal of documentation has to be uploaded through web portals by those involved in farming and by people in rural Ireland who are seeking to avail of various services. High-speed broadband is needed for such uploading, for businesses like website design and for retail. A great deal of bandwidth is needed to design websites. Will the actual roll-out of the plan be done through the local authorities? Are there teams in place, particularly in County Limerick, to decide on which areas outside the hubs that have been chosen will be moved on first? I ask the Minister to make a statement on this matter.

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