Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I am raising this issue because so many constituents are having significant trouble accessing broadband throughout mid-Cork. They need broadband to be able to work from home, for college, to run their businesses and for social use. A great number of people from Ballingeary, to Ballinora to Ballyhea and everywhere in between are in the intervention area and waiting for services. While there is a patchwork of wireless operators, including Rapid and Imagine, they are only able to cover some of the area and many people are left without options.

The national broadband plan, NBP, has been up and running for a year at this stage and it will take another four years at least to cover much of the area. It is only covering one area in each county as it stands. In a county the size of Cork, which covers one eighth of the island, this is only a drop in the ocean. Macroom's council area is the size of County Leitrim and there are nine similar areas in Cork. The plan is being rolled out in an uneven way with only one area in each county. Larger counties such as Cork, Mayo and Galway are losing out. It is very frustrating for people who need to be able to access broadband, which should be made available more evenly. It is very frustrating for people when the fibre is so near their home but they do not have access, especially if they do not have a wireless option nearby.

People have also been raising with me how they cannot get a handle on a timeline on the plan. They are left very much in the dark waiting for broadband. The NBP does not seem to be taking on what appear to be low hanging fruit, for example, where commercial fibre is passing homes. People are not getting the opportunity to make a connection to it. From Derrynacaheragh to Coppeen to Castletown and Kilmichael, vast areas do not have the option available to them and are very much dependent on getting the NBP moving quickly.

It is not only an issue for rural areas. On the edge of the city boundary, in Ovens and Ballinora, which overlook the global cloud computing company, Dell EMC, many people are struggling to access broadband services. Even the blue commercial zone there are serious issues, for example in Heathfield, Ballincollig, where residents have been in for almost 16 months and Eir is still not rolling out fibre connections to them. It does not make sense. We would have expected that within the blue commercial zone these would have been the areas where Eir would have quickly had the service rolled out.

We will find every kind of excuse, from Eircode postcodes not being available to not being able to get on site and so on. This is despite the fact residents in Heathfield have had their Eircode postcodes since February last. Ducts have been installed as part of the construction, the builders have moved to phase 3 and still the fibre has not been laid when people have been living there for 16 months.

Is there some way the Minister can raise this with Eir and ComReg to see if they can quickly roll out broadband in those blue areas, as well as in the intervention area? It is very frustrating for people who have to sit so close to the fibre and not have an option. There are also many people in rural areas who really have no option of getting broadband and who are waiting for the national broadband plan.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The national broadband plan contract was signed with National Broadband Ireland, NBI, in November last to roll out a high-speed and future-proofed broadband network within the intervention area, which covers 1.1 million people living and working in over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms, along with 695 schools. The national broadband plan will ensure that citizens throughout the entire country have access to high-speed broadband services and that nobody is left without this vital service. The national broadband plan network will offer users a high-speed broadband service with a minimum download speed of 500 Mbps from the outset. I should point out that this represents an increase from the original 150 Mbps committed to under the contract. The current deployment team forecasts premises passed in all counties within the first two years, and over 90% of premises having access to high-speed broadband within the next four years.

The high-speed broadband map, to which the Deputy referred, is available at broadband.gov.ieand it shows the area in Cork which will be included in the national broadband plan State-led intervention, as well as areas targeted by commercial operators. There are 273,548 premises in Cork, of which 79,424 premises will be covered by high-speed broadband through the State-led intervention. A further 194,124 premises are in areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high-speed broadband services. Government investment in County Cork under the national broadband plan will be of the order of €314 million.

As of 16 November, over 131,000 premises across all counties in the country have been surveyed by NBI. Of this figure, over 16,000 premises have been surveyed to date in County Cork, including in the areas of Carrigaline and Midleton. NBI crews have started initial works with a build in around 4,000 premises in the Carrigaline area, including Fountainstown, Ballinhassig, Monkstown and Upper Rochestown. The first fibre-to-the-home connections are expected next month in Carrigaline, and they will be subject to technical testing and validation prior to wider release of the area. I am advised that, from the end of January, retailers will be able to resell the service and householders in these areas will be able to order high-speed broadband provided via the NBI network. Further details are available on specific areas within Cork on the NBI website, which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register an interest in being provided with deployment updates through that website.

Broadband connection points, BCPs, are also a key element of the national broadband plan, providing high-speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll-out of the fibre to the home network. It is anticipated that some 275 sites in rural areas will be installed with broadband in this way by the end of the year, including 75 schools. As of Friday, 13 November, 147 sites and 43 schools have had those connections installed. The high-speed broadband service will be switched on in these locations through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly available sites, and by the Department of Education for schools. These national broadband BCPs are located across County Cork, where the public will be able to benefit from the services at Ballindangan community centre, Aghabullogue community centre, Castletownkenneigh community centre, Lisavaird community centre, Whitechurch community centre and the TO Park in Labbamologga. Further infrastructure is being installed by NBI at Bear Island heritage centre, Laharn heritage centre and Ballydaly community hall, and it is anticipated that these sites will be connected in the coming weeks. Further details are available on the NBI website. Clogagh and Ballycroneen national schools will also connected for educational access as part of that initiative. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education and the other schools in the intervention area in Cork.

While substantial progress has been made, the Covid pandemic has had an impact on delivery of the network and the extent of that impact is currently being assessed. We have committed to putting in place measures to mitigate the impact as far as possible.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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A large number of houses are being surveyed across the country, including a pocket to the south of Cork city. I again draw the Minister's attention to the fact that, despite the size of Cork, there is nowhere within 40 or 50 miles of that where the service is being delivered. It is similar in north-west, west and east Cork, which makes up one eighth of the country. The national broadband plan is being rolled out but areas such as Lissarda, near Kilmurray, Castletown, Coppeen and Togher have been left without service. Those responsible for the national broadband plan need to get a handle on rolling out into those rural areas much faster and serving communities.

I have outlined to the Minister the situation in regard to the blue zone, where it was expected that broadband would already have been rolled out in commercial areas. I have outlined to the Minister the very slow pace. Heathfield is in phase 3 of construction, people have been living there for 16 months at this stage and Eircode postcodes have been available since the beginning of this year, yet, despite the ducting being available, Eir has not run fibre through it. Eir must be answerable somewhere because when it is raised with ComReg, it is always the case that Eir has provided some sop of an answer about 3 Mbps, which will probably only deliver 1 Mbps. It is not working. Eir needs to be answerable and it needs to roll out the fibre.

Nearby, in Killumney village, again in a blue zone, many people would have expected to have the nearby fibre connected, yet their properties appear as yellow dots on the national broadband plan, which means their connection has been delayed further. People in the blue zone would reasonably expect to have had services rolled out before now. I ask that the national broadband plan would be rolled out more quickly and also that the Minister would raise the issue of the blue zone with ComReg and with Eir to get those areas served more quickly.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. In response to the earlier question from Deputy O'Rourke, I said we had met both Eir and Vodafone to discuss this issue of the customer complaints service. I used that opportunity to also ask about the roll-out of broadband in other areas. There are a number of points. First, the key next stage in the development of rural broadband is the involvement of Eir and the ESB in taking these surveys, given 130,000 houses have been surveyed already, and turning it into a plan, pole by pole, for how we get fixed broadband to the house. The company committed that it would give it full urgency and do everything to match what exists in government and in NBI, which is a desire to accelerate the roll-out programme, particularly because of the acceleration in the demand for broadband services due to Covid. That is possible, and it requires Eir to have a critical role.

Second, the company said it has now delivered on the 300,000 or so houses that it had committed to providing with high-speed broadband in rural Ireland, on time and ahead of schedule, with a huge pick-up in demand. With Cork accounting for one eighth of the country, that would equate to some 35,000 houses in the Cork area that will have got broadband through that service, although I will have to check that figure with the company.

Third, and critically, SIRO, which is a joint venture involving Vodafone and the ESB, has also been very successful in rolling out broadband, more in towns than in rural areas because that is where it has targeted. The Deputy is correct that it is important we get the national broadband plan right. However, it is also important that, in other areas of rural Ireland which are not in the intervention area, in the towns and, I have to say, in the urban areas as well, that we get the same level of investment so every single house in this country has access to the high-speed fast broadband that we need. I am confident in the policy we have, given that there is a variety of different companies which are not competing against each other.

Where that does not exist we intervene in the market to cover the house that would not have otherwise been covered. We will cover every single house in this country and we will do it quicker than the original seven years set out in the national broadband plan. It is essential that we advance that quicker in Cork and everywhere else.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to raise this important issue. It relates to a friend of a constituent who, along with the partner and family, borrowed money during the boom times. It was not wise borrowing. The Ceann Comhairle or I would not have approved or authorised it but many things happened during the boom that we would not have authorised. In any event, the family suffered a number of bereavements, which substantially altered the ability to repay and serious issues were arising. A partial solution was found in 2018 where part of the properties were sold to liquidate some of the debt and, as the Ceann Comhairle and I know, the worst possible solution is a partial solution; it has to be all or nothing. We now have a situation whereby the current lender proposes to secure the rest of the property and make the person homeless.

I intervened some weeks ago explaining the reason I wanted a delay in the process until some dialogue could be entered into and an arrangement agreed within the capabilities of the borrower to meet and for the bank to accept. Very little followed from that until, in the past week or so, the remaining borrower received notice to the effect that it looked as if the intention was to seek liquidation or receivership. I corresponded once again on 18 November to the effect that I was anxious to obtain an urgent response in order to engage with some entity which could speak with authority. I did not receive a reply until I sent a further letter and email in the past 24 hours to state that I proposed to raise the case in the House at the earliest opportunity, that I had already raised it in the finance committee and had invoked the Central Bank to respond and get involved in dealing with that kind of situation in a way that gives some recognition to the plight of the borrower when she is doing her best or cannot do any better than she is doing. To be fair, I then received a response from the solicitor acting for the companies who said there was no longer any need to raise it in the House because they recognised there was a possibility of some discussion taking place but that they would not defer further action because they only received my letter on the day after they had authorised the legal action. That is immaterial because the client can always instruct her legal representatives to go ahead or stop as the case may be.

I am particularly grateful for the opportunity to raise this issue in the House. I believe that it is possible to make a meaningful contribution provided that the lending institution involved is prepared to recognise that it has a role to play also and that there are human issues in this type of case that should be recognised. I hope that as and from today we will have a situation whereby I can enter into dialogue on behalf of the borrower, which hopefully will be of benefit to that borrower.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I thank Deputy Durkan for raising the matter. In the first instance I wish to express my sincere condolences to the borrower on her recent bereavements. In this case I assume the Deputy is referring to a borrower whose mortgage is held by the entity to which he referred in the details supplied. This entity in question is authorised on a transitional basis on the Central Bank's register of credit servicing firms. This provides for entities to be authorised until the Central Bank has granted or refused their authorisation as long as they were carrying on the activity of a credit servicing firm before the requirement to be authorised. While under consideration for full authorisation, the loan owners nevertheless still have to comply with a suite of consumer protection and other regulatory requirements, including the Central Bank's statutory codes, and therefore the consumer protections which applied when the loan was initially made continue to apply fully following the purchase of a loan by the new creditor, which I will detail now.

The code of conduct on mortgage arrears, the CCMA, in particular provides a strong consumer protection framework for borrowers who are in arrears or pre-arrears on a mortgage loan secured on a primary residence. The overriding objective of the CCMA is to ensure the fair and transparent treatment of consumers in mortgage arrears or pre-arrears and that due regard is had to the fact that each case of mortgage arrears is unique and needs to be considered on its own merits.

The CCMA recognises that it is in the interests of borrowers and regulated firms to address financial difficulties as speedily, effectively and sympathetically as circumstances allow. It also sets out the mortgage arrears resolution process, MARP, which is a four-step process that regulated entities must follow. The key step in this MARP is the resolution of a particular mortgage difficulty. In this regard, the CCMA requires, in respect of a co-operating borrower, regulated entities to explore all of the options for an alternative repayment arrangement, ARA, offered by that lender. Furthermore, the regulated entity is required to document its considerations of each option examined, including the reasons the option or options offered are appropriate and sustainable in the individual circumstances of the case and also the reason options considered and not offered are not appropriate and not considered to be sustainable for the borrower's individual circumstances.

Where a regulated entity does not offer an ARA it must, among a range of requirements, set out on paper or another durable medium the reasons for that decision to the borrower, inform the borrower of the other options available to him or her, such as a voluntary sale or mortgage to rent, and inform the borrower of his or her right to appeal the decision under the CCMA to the lenders appeal board and also the right to consult a personal insolvency practitioner. In addition, following an internal CCMA appeals process, the regulated entity will also be required to inform the borrower of her right to refer the matter to the statutory Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman of Ireland.

It is also necessary for the lender to engage in real, effective and proportionate communication with the borrower. In this regard, it should be noted that provision 8 of the CCMA provides that at the borrower's request and with the borrower's written consent the lender must liaise with a third party nominated by the borrower to act on her behalf in relation to her arrears situation. That is an important provision but it is also a very clear rule, which is at the heart of the Deputy's question. The lender must liaise with a third party nominated by the borrower. For example, for borrowers relying on the help of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, the lender must engage with that service. However, the provision does not prevent the lender from contacting the borrower directly regarding other matters or issuing communications required under the code directly to the borrower. Furthermore, under provision 22, a lender must ensure that the level of communications is proportionate, that communications are not aggressive, intimidating or harassing and that borrowers are given sufficient time to complete required actions. I hope this will offer assistance to the Deputy in his engagement with the constituent who is experiencing mortgage difficulty.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply, which is greatly appreciated. I agree it will be of benefit in pursuing the issue once again with the current lenders. The one fault that I and many other Members in this House have raised regarding such issues is that the MARP that is available is something the lenders draw up and immediately tell the borrower and those acting on their behalf that they do not qualify and cannot get the benefit, that the borrower has a distressed loan and that the lender believes he or she does not have the ability to discharge it. That does not mean that it is impossible to resolve it. There is almost €170,000 in interest in this particular situation, which is a considerable amount of money, particularly when part of the loan is covered by a very low interest tracker mortgage. There are many issues to be discussed in regard to this case and it should be possible to bring about a satisfactory resolution.

The most important thing is that Deputies have access to the Ceann Comhairle to raise these issues and to the Central Bank via the relevant committees of the House to be assured that what is happening is in accordance with the legislation, due process and best practice. I thank the Minister of State for his reply and the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating me in raising the issue.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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As I mentioned, there is a strong consumer protection framework in place to protect mortgage and other loan borrowers. Borrowers have a suite of protections and lenders have a range of responsibilities to discharge when dealing with borrowers in arrears. There are also a number of public supports available to borrowers in debt difficulty, such as MABS and the Abhaile service for mortgage debt. I encourage any borrower who is experiencing difficulty to engage with these services. If a borrower is in significant difficulty, the Deputy may also wish to note that there is also scope for a personal insolvency practitioner, PIP, to be appointed by a borrower to assist him or her in reaching a satisfactory outcome with the lender. Where a PIP is appointed, the PIP may make a proposal to the borrower's creditors, and even where that proposal is rejected by the creditors, there is the ability, if the arrangement includes a loan which is secured on a principal private residence, for it to be adopted by the courts.

As the Deputy will know, the Minister for Justice is currently bringing forward legislation to extend the circumstances in which this option is available to borrowers. Much has been done over the last years to enhance protections for borrowers and I assure the Deputy that the Minister for Finance will continue to work with the Central Bank, as regulator, to ensure that the full suite of consumer protection measures is available to borrowers and that lenders who do not meet their requirements are dealt with appropriately under the supervisory framework for regulated financial service providers.