Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The difficulty is that the task force has now been usurped by the Department of communications in terms of its own digital strategy, which is based on EU targets. These EU targets are based on continental Europe, where population densities are very different from what they are here. As the Minister knows, the telecoms operators have proposed a unified mobile phone network in the non-commercial rural parts of the country to provide universal coverage throughout the country. This is not being progressed. Furthermore, because we are bringing fibre-optic cable to every home in Ireland under the national broadband plan, we now have the backhaul capacity in every townland in the country. If we join up the dots with the national broadband plan fibre, along with the telecoms operators' commitment to provide coverage, we can make this happen for every rural family throughout the country.

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