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

When it was formed, the Government made it quite clear that one of its priorities was to fast-track the national broadband plan. Surely, one of the first things that should have been done was to re-establish the task force rather than considering it 18 months down the road.

I have a suggestion for the Minister for inclusion on the work programme. As she knows, as National Broadband Ireland delivers fibre broadband to homes, families will come off wireless services. That will provide an opportunity to improve the quality of wireless services to families who are further from the deployment areas. There is a problem with the physical coverage of those wireless services. There is an opportunity to improve coverage if local authorities and State agencies provide sites to these wireless operators, but it is key those sites are provided free of charge. We are talking about services that will have a very short lifespan. It is important that, first, local authorities provide the sites and, second, they do not look at this as a cash cow but as a way of facilitating delivery of wireless services pending the completion of the fibre build.

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