Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the pandemic winds down, we hope, we can look back at a lot of things. During the pandemic, one of the key shifts in the country was towards working from home. The Tánaiste himself has acknowledged that it is one of the key changes that is most likely to last from this pandemic. For many in this State, there is a huge obstacle to working from home, which is either a very poor broadband connection from an existing provider, or no availability of broadband. Two years ago, we had a general election just before the National Broadband Plan, NBP, was announced to much fanfare. It contained many excellent aspirations. It was to cost €3 billion, of which the State was going to contribute €2.6 billion. We were going to see 538,000 homes connected, 90% of them by the end of 2024.

There was a specific target that by the end of this month 115,000 homes would have been passed, which means they would be able to avail of connection. Of course, we can bring a horse to water but we cannot make it drink. People may not want to connect. However, 115,000 people would be able to connect to broadband. The Business Postreported that this target was downgraded to 60,000 homes. By the end of December, only 33,000 homes had been passed. Where does the broadband plan now lie? Is the Tánaiste confident that it will be done? If so, when? How far behind are we? I appreciate the Tánaiste is going to say we had a pandemic but much of the work to be done was outdoor work. There was never a better time for digging up roads and working in quiet country areas.

My second and related question is one I have asked repeatedly for the past 12 months. A key commitment in the programme for Government is to give additional powers to ComReg to introduce administrative sanctions against companies that are not fulfilling their contracts. This is where people already, in name at least, have a broadband connection but it is not good and they are not able to use it and they contact their providers. Eir was terrible for a while and this is an issue I have raised. Where does it lie now? The Tánaiste specifically told us that he, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, was drafting a Bill that would contain it. The Bill was to be introduced first of all after Christmas last year and then after Easter last year. Where is the Bill? It is of importance to facilitate people working from home, which has many public health benefits and many benefits for people's lives and for rural communities throughout the State.

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