Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Buried in Tuesday's budget documentation was an admission that the national broadband plan is running eight months behind schedule. That is two months more than the timeline presented to the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications by the contractor last month. It means that 75,000 fewer homes will have access to high-speed broadband at the end of next year than was originally planned when the contract was signed in November 2019. The yarn that was spun by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications yesterday was that this was down to Covid delays.

However, the work was carried out outdoors and the contractors were designated as essential workers under the Covid level 5 rules. What exactly is going on and what is causing the delay?

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