Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It will be difficult and disappointing for anybody in year 4 or year 5 who feels an immediate need and is faced with this long gap. The Deputy suggests looking at technologies like satellite or fixed wireless and he is absolutely correct. Those technologies are developing all the time. One of the things about a project like this is that the assumptions made at the start or the environment at the start will be very different a couple of years later as technology develops. Fixed wireless access will be suitable in some situations. More mobile masts will provide some type of basic broadband connection, and for many people that will be the answer. It will not be easy. Accelerating from seven years to five years still leaves people waiting until year 5, and many of those people will not be happy. We have to investigate every other way to give them broadband connections, whether in a community setting, through a wireless setting or through a school.

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