Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The way the NBP contract works is that the contractor is paid only when it connects 100% of an area. Every single home in a deployment area has to be connected for the contractor to get its payment, which is different from what happens in the urban areas. As the rural areas are connected, there will be no black spots in them. The urban areas are where I am concerned about black spots. I am the Minister of State with responsibility for broadband in all of Ireland, not just the rural areas. The NBP is there to remove that urban-rural divide.

As the Deputy said, broadband is vital for working from home, creating jobs in villages and towns throughout the country, and to allow people study from home and have their work-life balance and communications and so on. Therefore, I understand how critical it is. Louth has double the average rate of connection for Ireland. It is the number one county for connections for rural broadband. I believe 37% of rural homes in Louth have been passed, which is twice the average overall, so it is doing very well.

For a person who is waiting and absolutely needs something a year before the connection is delivered, the options are fixed wireless access, 5G or satellite connections. It is a seven-year contract and that means some people will be connected in years 6 or 7. I am working on reducing that number down to five years.

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