Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I met with representatives of National Broadband Ireland last week to raise these issues with them. I know Deputies raise them all the time. We all support the national broadband plan, or at least we all do now, and we all want to see it rolled out as quickly as possible. However, even with the best will and the best intentions, there are technical difficulties. It is a project that will take five to seven years. Approximately 100,000 homes, farms and businesses will be connected every year. We are exploring with National Broadband Ireland and Eir any means possible to speed that up but, as with any big project such as this, it cannot all be done in one year or even two.

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