Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will make a broad point. The NBP is of critical importance and it is hugely important that we have the whole country covered but it is not the only investment that is taking place. There is huge investment taking place in a competitive market with operators like Eir, Virgin Media, SIRO and others. They are chasing after customers and investing all around the country and we are starting to see some of the benefits. The digital economy and society index is one of the key measures in Europe for the digital performance of different countries and it tracks the evolution of how member states are doing. In 2019 Ireland was placed eleventh on that index of European countries and we are now up to fifth as of last year. Some 99% of the country has 4G coverage and our fixed high-capacity network coverage has gone from 35% to 83%. We rank first in the integration of digital technology dimension and we have a leading position in how small businesses are using it. We need to get perspective on this. We need to deliver this faster and we cannot have a situation where on one side of the road someone has coverage but on the other side someone else does not. That is why we have the NBP but we are radically improving and enhancing our digital communications network.

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