Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Those figures are somewhat at odds with some of the figures being reported. I hope the Government is verifying what it is being told by the persons and consortium behind the national broadband plan. We were all told the country would be largely connected by 2024. People can go online and type in their details and request an update as to when they will be connected and are being told it is anticipated they will be connected in 2025 or 2026. I appreciate that anecdotal evidence is easy to come by and is not very much good to anybody but I know of plenty of people. Is the plan on target? Is it over budget? The cost was to be €3 billion and now it is €5 billion. We have learned the person heading it up did so with an equity investment of €116,000. This is a lot of money but to head up a project of this size it is a very small personal commitment. Most of this is being funded by very high interest loans. If it goes belly up in the middle of it there will be many secured creditors and the Government will effectively have to bail it out. Is the Tánaiste able to say we will meet the connection and financial targets?

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