Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I have no doubt about his commitment to this massive project. The sentiment expressed by everybody is that we must speed up this roll-out as quickly as possible. There have been hindrances along the way, of that there is no question. Covid-19 has been a difficult issue with all these projects.Covid has been a difficult issue for these projects and it does not help with running a smooth situation when hit by a pandemic such as this. I accept the Government is ramping up this project. I understand it is an area of constant debate at Cabinet meetings, etc. The figures are not that bad, but we need to move much faster. We have had many situations with Covid. People are working from home. In future, whatever arrangements happen between employers and employees, we will have a mixed bag of people possibly working two days from home and three days from the office, and vice versa. In my own area of County Roscommon and parts of County Galway I know very well, there is not a week where I do not meet people who are now working from home whose broadband connections just are not there. They may have a private connection. They do not always work, although sometimes they do. If one is out in an area of rural Ireland that is not hugely populated, a commercial firm will not be worried about getting broadband to somebody at the end of the road. That is why the National Broadband Ireland and Government plan needs to be ramped up.

As of 7 January, 290,000 premises have been surveyed. The Minister of State mentioned that surveys are under way. More than 154,000 premises have been constructed or are under construction across all counties. It is nice to see Roscommon, Galway, Leitrim and other places in the midlands and west covered, and that is important. It is important we can continue to talk about rural regeneration and the rural regeneration and development fund. There is great work going on, including in towns in my own county such as Strokestown, Ballaghaderreen and Boyle, and others all over the place. They are getting money to draw up significant plans to re-establish life in their towns. We all want to put that life back into our towns. The piece of the jigsaw that we need is broadband. Sometimes people will say there is a house in the area for sale and ask what it is like. The next question is whether it has broadband. It is becoming like electricity was in the past. It is needed and will be needed by everybody. We all agree with the Town Centre First approach. We need to build the best facilities in our towns.

I acknowledge this is a European problem, not just an Irish problem. I have been reading about problems in Germany, England and parts of France with broadband. We also have to accept that some built-up urban areas have difficulties too. Overall, there are challenges. Broadband is a crucial issue. It is also crucial with regard to the Housing for All policy. We need to use every avenue we can to support and promote what the Government is doing. We need to ramp up the roll-out. There is no doubt that it is happening, but there needs to be a greater emphasis on getting this to rural areas, especially going back to changed work practices after Covid. I am sure the Minister of State will acknowledge that makes it all the more important.