Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will bring the competition (amendment) Bill to Cabinet next Tuesday and I expect it to be published later in the week. It will give the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and potentially ComReg, additional powers to impose administrative fines and make it easier to fine companies that are in breach of the rules and competition law and to give the agency more powers on interception and, in particular, surveillance. The legislation will go to Cabinet on Tuesday and will be published sometime next week.

With regard to the national broadband plan itself, National Broadband Ireland commenced connection to the new fibre network in January this year. More than 54,000 premises are available for order and pre-order in 21 counties. These are Carlow, Clare, Cavan, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. Despite the unprecedented challenges presented by the pandemic, National Broadband Ireland is making steady progress on the delivery of high-speed fibre broadband under the national broadband plan. The company has advised us that as of 7 January more than 154,000 premises are constructed or under construction, demonstrating that the project is reaching scale. National Broadband Ireland has confirmed that more than 5,000 premises have been connected as of 7 January. This figure is increasing week on week. To date, the level of connections are in line with projections and in some areas they are exceeding targets. For example, one area has seen a 25% uptake only after a few months of going live. It is the case that we are behind schedule but we can speed things up and we will do everything that we can to do so. This is a project I and the Government believe in. It can make a really big difference for rural Ireland and for becoming one of the only countries in the world to connect every farm and business to high-speed broadband, thus opening up possibilities for investment and home working that do not exist at present.

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