Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The delivery of high-speed broadband is crucial to our ability to grow the economy, particularly in the context of regional development. As a Deputy who represents a rural constituency, I know the lack of broadband connectivity is having negative impacts on the ability of rural communities to remain sustainable. The work of NBI is vital. It was reported recently that NBI is once again going to miss its target for access to high-speed Internet for homes and businesses. The target was 60,000. It had been revised down from an original target of 115,000. The likely output is going to be in the region of 35,000 to 40,000, which is approximately one third of the original target. There are perhaps multiple reasons for that. What is more important is what is planned to bring the roll-out back on track, including a timeframe for when it will be back on track.

On the most recent occasion representatives of NBI appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications in September last year, they reported they were six months behind in their work. Has that been extended? It will have a knock-on effect on targets for the coming year. What is the plan to tackle that? NBI also reported it was having licensing issues with a number of local authorities. Is that still causing problems and delays?

The NBI website now has a portal which maps out the different stages each area is at in the process of rolling out high-speed Internet across each county, including roll-out to houses and businesses that can now order or pre-order broadband and areas that are survey pending. Roll-out to some areas will only happen in 2025 or 2026. Quite a lot of my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, which includes north Meath, is survey pending.

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