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

I am trying to protect the Minister of State's rear end here. He represents a rural constituency, just like my own. Next spring, he is the one who will be blamed when people are denied access to broadband. I ask him to pick up the phone to National Broadband Ireland to find out exactly what the specifications are in terms of bringing fibre cable from the telegraph pole into those homes and to circulate that widely across rural Ireland from 1 September to ensure that people have their hedges cut back and trees trimmed, rather than contacting the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, which will contact National Broadband Ireland, which will then get back to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. This issue will land on his desk next spring. Let us pre-empt that and resolve this problem. Let us give homeowners the tools to ensure that they can access high-speed broadband once it arrives outside their door.

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