Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about having a five-year programme. The problem consumers have is that when they make inquiries about when they may expect to have fibre broadband in their homes, they are not being given dates. They are basically told they are at pre-survey stage. No date is forthcoming when they ask about expected dates for having broadband provided.

If a company has a programme that runs for five years or seven years, there has to be some indication or target dates for when things will be done. I was involved in the national broadband plan and I understand how it is being rolled out. However, we are a year and a half into the programme and almost 4,000 houses have been passed at this stage. That is a small number compared with the target we had set.

I understand negotiations are under way. If consumers are not going to get fibre broadband for three or four years, why can we not tell them that? They could then make alternative plans rather as there would be no mystery about the date they will get it. This is very poor. The answer given is to check the website but the website does not give dates. It is important that we have specific dates built in so that consumers know when they are going to get fibre broadband and whether it will be in two years, three years or however long.

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