Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand the frustration over the roll-out of the broadband connection points throughout the country, not least now with many people working from home. My understanding is those initial works have started and I can ask the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to follow up with the Deputy with completion dates on that.

In general, the Government is very much committed to the roll-out of the broadband plan. Within the Department, we continue to engage with National Broadband Ireland to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of the roll-out of broadband and to establish the possibility of bringing forward to an earlier date premises that are currently scheduled for years six and seven. Furthermore, National Broadband Ireland has established a dedicated team to investigate an acceleration of the roll-out from its current contracted schedule of seven years. All possible alternative network providers are being considered and substantial work has been completed by the team to date, with further actions scheduled over the coming months to explore the potential to accelerate the network roll-out and ensure we can mitigate any delays arising, in particular as a result of Covid-19.

On the specific points that both Deputies raised, I will follow up with the Minister to provide a timeline.

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