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

It is true that the national broadband plan has been somewhat delayed by Covid. As with so many other areas, workers are not available and contractors are not able to come into the country, but we are progressing at full speed and are working with the company and with other companies to see if we can accelerate the programme further. In truth, this was originally a seven-year plan and I would like to see if we can bring that back to a shorter number of years. Our commitment to Donegal is very real. There is a €128 million investment. It is part of a wider strategy. The national broadband plan is closing and filling the gaps at the same time that other companies are delivering really high-speed broadband. In Donegal Eir has rolled out to some 28,000 premises with the really high-speed fibre broadband. SIRO has passed 18,000 premises. It is not just the national broadband plan, there are also those additional 40,000 and 50,000 houses that have, in the last two and three years, got significant upgrades. Yes, we need to go further and go faster. We will do everything we can to make that happen.

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