Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I accept the urgency of this, especially during the Covid pandemic. I accept that the use of broadband is critical, particularly among those working from home or those who cannot contact relatives in person but who can online. Covid has also affected the national broadband plan. The contractors who were due to arrive from the UK have been unable to come. We ourselves and National Broadband Ireland are looking to see how it can catch up and whether the programme can be accelerated, which would be to the advantage of the company and the State. That will not be easy, especially with the ongoing Covid restrictions and the ability to get people to work. People are also out of work because of Covid. This is creating constraints. I am confident that we will be able to catch up from that and accelerate the programme.

On contact with individuals, it would be good if they could go onto the national broadband plan website which I mentioned. They can register there. Only about 16,000 people have done so to date. The more people who do so, the better. They will be able to get updates on timelines. It does take time. The reason I listed all the areas which are being surveyed is because that work of assessing how to get to each house is critical. That will help the national broadband plan be very specific and up to date on mapping the particular houses, areas and so on. The key project is to take that survey and turn it into a works delivery plan. I cannot give false promise that all that will be completed this year or next. More than 100,000 houses will be done next year. In the subsequent four years, I hope that at least 90% of houses should be complete, and we will accelerate that further if we can.

On communications, perhaps it would be best for the Department to examine its links with county councils by way of updating and briefing local communities rather than the Department or national broadband team engaging with every community. Working through the councils might prove the best way of providing updates and receiving feedback on the project. I commit to the Deputy that the Department will approach Kildare County Council on that.

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