Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I thank the Deputy again for raising this issue. There are very serious issues and he made reasonable points in respect of this. I would be wary of estimates that we get from time to time. We should all be wary of estimates in respect of projects of this kind, particularly in the communications area because they tend to balloon, particularly when the State signals too early an interest in getting involved. Costs can go up. I think we should take this step by step. The overall principle is about enhancing coverage with less drop out for telephones, although from time to time, public representatives do not mind the odd telephone call being lost in terms of getting some respite from the volume of calls. More broadly speaking, however, in terms of connectivity in rural Ireland, the task force will work with the Deputy if he wishes to make submissions to it and, obviously, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, will as well in terms of complementing the broadband roll-out.

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