Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister to Seanad Éireann. I thank him for being here. The Minister will speak for ten minutes, group spokespersons for eight minutes, all other Senators will speak for five minutes and he will reply no later than 7.35 p.m. The statements will conclude at 7.45 p.m.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus le Comhaltaí an tSeanaid as an deis cúpla focal a rá ar an ábhar seo um thráthnóna. I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Members for the invitation to say a few words on the national broadband plan, NBP. The plan is the Government's initiative to deliver high-speed broadband to every household, business and farm in Ireland, ensuring all premises in the country will be covered by a gigabit network no later than 2028. It is the largest infrastructure project in rural Ireland since rural electrification, spanning 96% of Ireland's landmass. The NBP is delivering high-speed broadband to over 1.1 million people in more than 23% of premises in the State. It includes over 65,000 farms, 26,350 non-farm businesses, 693 schools and 27 islands and is fast transforming these communities.There are currently over 52,675 farms, or 81%, with access to this service and over 23,035 are already connected. In addition, more than 21,690 non-farm businesses, or 82%, now have access to the service, with 5,065 already connected.

The plan is a core element of the implementation of the digital connectivity strategy published in December 2022, which sets out the commitment that all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a gigabit network no later than 2028 and all populated areas covered by 5 Gb by 2030. These goals will be maintained in the updated strategy which the Department will publish this year in support of the aspirations in the recently published national digital and AI strategy.

The national broadband plan is supplying fast, reliable broadband by laying 140,000 km of fibre cable, utilising over 1.5 million poles and over 16,500 km of underground duct networks. That gives an indication of the scale of it. As one of the largest public investments in the State’s history, it is designed to address market failure by ensuring universal high-speed broadband connectivity and supporting balanced economic growth, competitiveness and social inclusion across all regions.

The Programme for Government 2025 - Securing Ireland’s Future sets a number of targets which include the completion of the installation of high-speed fibre broadband to 1.1 million people, including homes, farms and businesses nationwide, by 2026. Ensuring that all communities across Ireland, including those in rural and remote areas, can access high-speed broadband is a key priority for me and for the Government. We are delivering strong progress on this challenging target. Deployment momentum is strong and the main infrastructure build is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2026, bringing the project in ahead of schedule and running under budget.

In addition, commercial deployments have also advanced strongly with the latest figures released from the regulator showing 90% of premises now have access to gigabit connectivity, which is a significant increase of 32% since 2020, just six years ago. We are leading many of our European neighbours in digital connectivity and are ahead of the EU 27 average for gigabit connectivity. This is good news for competitiveness at home and abroad, enabling businesses in Ireland to reach a wider market, while reducing costs and improving productivity.

The majority of digital connectivity across the State will be delivered through commercial investment by the telecommunications industry, complemented by the roll-out of fibre, across mainly rural areas, under the national broadband plan contract. The national broadband plan contract, signed on 19 November 2019, provides for a future-proofed high-speed broadband network to be deployed by National Broadband Ireland, NBI, to people living and working in the intervention area. It is expected that some 600,000 premises will be passed including new builds.

The national broadband plan’s operational model separates the country into commercially served areas, commonly called blue areas, and intervention areas, called amber areas, with different delivery routes and expectations for end users. The national broadband plan network will offer premises in the intervention area a high-speed fibre broadband service with a minimum download speed of 500 Mbps from the outset and already offers 1 Gbps and 5 Gbps services for those who want to avail of higher speeds.The network is future-proofed to deliver up to 10 Gbps speeds.

Deployment momentum by NBI is strong and the main infrastructure build is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026, on time and on budget, as per the original contractual deadlines. As of 17 April 2026, deployment progress includes the following elements: 100% of surveying and design work is complete; over 465,810 premises have been passed across all counties in the country; over 486,140 premises - 86% of the intervention area - are available to order or pre-order high-speed fibre broadband via retail service providers; over 172,790 premises are connected with uptake rates in early deployment areas exceeding initial projections; over 500,000 premises are undergoing main build works; 955 strategic connection points are installed comprising 283 public sites and 672 primary schools in the intervention area; and 72 retail service providers are contracted to NBI.

The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available to premises in the intervention area can be found on National Broadband Ireland’s website at www.nbi.ie. This website is regularly updated providing the expected timeline for delivery and status of any works that are initiated at any point in time. NBI also has a dedicated email address, which can be used by Oireachtas Members for specific queries.

Alongside the NBP intervention contract, commercial operators also continue to upgrade their networks throughout the State to primarily urban areas and contribute materially to achieving the digital connectivity strategy targets. Commercial fixed-line operators are currently delivering or have plans to deliver high-speed broadband services in the non-intervention area. For example, Eir has already passed over 1.5 million homes across the State, an event we marked in Oranmore recently. SIRO has reached a milestone of having passed over 700,000 premises for full fibre. Virgin Media has advised the Department that it has upgraded over 700,000 premises with full fibre. The Department is continuing to monitor these upgrades to ensure the EU digital targets are realised and any unnecessary barriers to this investment are addressed to mitigate the risk of any areas where providing a gigabit service is challenging. Information gathering and detailed analysis is ongoing with operators to understand the full scale.

The national broadband plan remains on schedule and within its approved financial budget, reflecting robust programme governance, disciplined cost control and effective delivery oversight. The maximum State subsidy for the project is €2.7 billion over 25 years. The total cost of the programme since 2020, when the NBP network roll-out commenced, is €1.543 billion to date. This figure largely comprises payments of €1.488 billion made to National Broadband Ireland under the contract for the construction of the national broadband plan high-speed network. This also includes fees for external advisers, who assist the Department in governing and monitoring the contract obligations of National Broadband Ireland. The budget allocation this year, adopted by the Oireachtas, is €433 million.

The national broadband plan delivers more than connectivity. It drives economic growth, social inclusion and community development by enabling remote work, digital learning, telehealth, new business opportunities and a range of other things. The plan is a central pillar of rural development, and supports community and social well-being, economic vitality, connectivity, and digital transformation.

In 2024, the Department published the first independent interim evaluation report of the plan. Unsurprisingly the results confirm significant incremental benefits for the plan over the 25-year appraisal period with an increase in total benefits of up to €5.9 billion compared with the original 2019 estimate of €4.4 billion. This increase is primarily generated by the structural shift to remote working and the benefits that will accrue, in particular to workers living in the intervention area with relatively long commutes to their workplace. We have begun the process of a further evaluation report, which will be published in 2027. I am confident the report will show the continued benefits being realised by the delivery of the national broadband plan to society and the country as a whole.

Evanne Ní Chuilinn (Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a bheith anseo sa Seanad anocht chun an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a phlé. The national broadband plan, as the Minister said, is the single most significant investment in our telecommunications infrastructure in the history of the State. However, it is not just about providing access to the Internet. It is about ensuring that communities across Ireland are supported economically and socially, that we connect communities and that no town, village or home is left behind as we digitise.

The NBP is one of the largest capital investment projects, started and supported from the outset by Fine Gael, targeting investment in rural communities, ensuring that every home in Ireland will be connected to high-speed gigabit broadband. It is a project that levels the playing field in the digital era, thereby ensuring that every family, school, business and farm can rely on high-speed broadband utilising the opportunity for connection, commerce and communication.

Considering the expertise we have in Ireland in digital technologies and with the opportunities for new technology business startups, access to high-speed broadband cannot be a barrier to entrepreneurship and innovation in the digital space in rural areas. As we become increasingly reliant on digital technologies, not just in our economy and society but as public services are increasingly digitised, it is only right and just that we invest in communities' ability to access these services. However, delivery on the broadband connectivity must be matched with ensuring network resilience and investment in resourcing for enhancing digital literacy so that no generation is left behind in accessing the Internet.

Since the broadband plan was signed off by the former Fine Gael Minister, Richard Bruton, NBI has laid cables for more than 444,000 homes, schools, farms and businesses with more than 157,000 premises now connected to high-speed broadband as a result of the plan. The project has been steadily delivering for rural communities, ensuring the digital divide between rural and urban areas decreases. The project has been backed by Fine Gael at every step from its launch to delivery and as a result, the plan now connects more than 400,000 people to high-speed broadband.This is ahead of NBI's projections for where it would be by the end of 2025. While we have faced significant inflation in recent years, the roll-out of the NBP has not been affected and is being delivered ahead of schedule and on budget, as the Minister has said, despite inflation of almost 22% since its launch in 2020.

The plan has also front-loaded broadband connection points in many communities that NBI has not yet passed or connected, ensuring there is still access to high-speed Internet in the area before the full roll-out. This strikes at the heart of what the NBP is all about, ensuring no home, school, business, family or farm is left behind in the digital age.

The plan is projected to have passed all homes in its intervention area by the end of this year, with a take-up rate already reaching nearly 60% in areas the plan first passed in its early phases. On completion, the NBP will provide high-speed broadband access to more than 570,000 premises, including 1.1 million people, 65,000 farms, 44,000 other businesses and 679 schools, with a minimum speed of 5 Mbps and a network future-proofed for speeds up to 10 Gbps, ensuring communities will be connected for generations to come no matter where they live.

We are so proud of our many digital exports in Ireland, with leading start-ups in tech across the country and a highly educated workforce in the digital space. The NBP roll-out now means that wherever you want to start a business, you will have access to high-speed broadband, supporting innovation and job creation in every community, not just concentrated in our bigger towns and cities.

According to the EU Commission's Digital Decade country report, we are exceeding EU averages in infrastructure roll-out, with 90% 5G coverage and 74% of premises able to avail of fibre broadband. The NBP has positioned us to take advantage of the opportunities for future business creation in the AI, cybersecurity and other new technology spaces and allows us to continue leading in the digital era with domestic home-rown businesses.

As we continue to digitise our public services with applications for public grants, payments and other schemes increasingly focusing on online application platforms, we must make sure that nobody is left behind without the basic digital literacy to access these public services. While the access to broadband may be there, there is still a body of work to be done to improve overall digital literacy rates. We know there is a generational gap in digital literacy, with younger, digitally native generations being streets ahead of older generations. This is not just an older person's issue; there are many people who lack the digital skills necessary to properly navigate the digital space and we must also now invest in people's ability to access digital technology. It is not right or fair that we would continue to digitise our public and many other services without also providing the knowledge and skills base for people.

I appreciate that considerable effort is being made across the Departments of children and education under Ireland's Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy 2024-2033 to ensure every young person has the digital literacy to thrive in their educational and social spaces, but there is still a fundamental gap in literacy rates. Many organisations do great work in providing digital literacy resources for older people, including Age Action, Age Friendly Ireland and many local authorities through our public library network, but this must be supported by an overarching Government strategy, which is simply not there yet.

We have invested in technology and the network to allow people to access the Internet, but we must now invest in our people. We must invest in their digital skills and literacy so that they can fully utilise the benefits of the high-speed broadband we have invested so much money in. There is no doubt the NBP is one of the most significant investments in the history of the State to support rural communities. It is a transformative infrastructural project that will connect communities for generations to come and will reduce the digital divide between urban and rural.

It is a plan that Fine Gael started, supported and backed every step of the way because we believe that if we are to continue to lead in new technologies and take advantage of the opportunities new technologies like AI present, these opportunities must be available for everyone in our society. The NBP does this by providing reliable, high-speed, future-proofed broadband connection to over 570,000 premises. The investment is paying off already, with connection rates of 60% in the areas first passed by NBI. However, we must ensure we are not only putting the infrastructure in place but empowering people with the skills and literacy they need to utilise this digital connectivity through our national digital literacy strategy, targeted especially at generations that are not digitally native. This is to ensure that in the same way the NBP eliminates geography as a barrier to the digital world, we will not let age become a barrier to accessing these vital technologies.

I thank the Minister for coming to the Seanad today for this debate, and I look forward to the rest of the discussion.

Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)
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Tá fáilte roimh an Aire um tráthnóna. As Fianna Fáil's spokesperson on media and communications, I welcome the opportunity to speak on the delivery of this vital national broadband plan, and more importantly, what it is already beginning to mean for communities right across Ireland.

When we talk about broadband, we are talking not just about cables under the ground or fibre up the poles but about a student in rural Louth, Donegal or Kerry being able to attend an online lecture without the screen freezing every few minutes or about a farmer submitting forms online in minutes, rather than having to drives miles to find a reliable connection. We are talking about older people being able to access telehealth services, families being able to stay connected and small businesses finally having the digital infrastructure to compete on a level playing field. Perhaps most importantly, we are talking about people having the choice to live and work in their own communities.

Most of us in the Chamber know what happens when the broadband drops at home for even ten minutes. There is panic and pandemonium. The children are shouting that there is no Wi-Fi, half the house grounds to a halt and suddenly we seem unable to function. As nice as that sounds for a small time, we can only imagine the absolute frustration of families and businesses that have lived for years with poor or unavailable connectivity. Nobody is taking that progress for granted. While some communities are still waiting, thankfully many are now finally beginning to see real movement and real hope that they too will soon have the reliable service most of us now depend on every single day.

There are more people living and working in rural Ireland than at any point in the history of the State. That is a remarkable transformation. The increase in remote and hybrid working following the pandemic has been hugely positive and transformational for rural Ireland. It has allowed people to return home, remain local, raise families in their own communities and contribute to rural economies in a way that simply was not possible a decade ago. However, none of that works without connectivity and that is why the national broadband plan is so important.

As the Minister mentioned, it is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever undertaken by the State. Sometimes we lose sight of the sheer scale of what is being delivered. As he mentioned, the plan aims for 100% coverage in the intervention area, meaning that by the end of this year over 500,000 premises, including around 65,000 farms, 26,000 businesses and 672 schools will have access to high-speed broadband infrastructure. That means well over 500,000 people will have access to fibre broadband if they choose to connect. What is really important about this project is that it was deliberately designed so that the entire country would progress at the same time, rather than moving county by county or region by region.

This matters because rural Ireland has waited long enough for equal access. If I may, I might reiterate some of those numbers that have been mentioned by my colleagues here. As of 17 April, more than 465,000 premises had been passed, with over 170,000 already connected to the network. That is almost 500,000 premises that can now order or pre-order broadband. Importantly, the project is expected to be completed on time and under budget, with the main infrastructure build due to be concluded by the end of this year. This is huge progress by any measure.

While national figures are important, local communities want to know one thing: when it will reach them. I was very pleased to see Togher in County Louth, only down the road from me, included among the 27 areas around the country now at the network build in progress stage. For many people in rural parts of Louth and around the country, reliable broadband has been an ongoing frustration for decades. Families, remote workers and local businesses have often felt left behind despite being only a short distance from major urban centres and the two largest towns in Ireland. Seeing real progress happening now on the ground in places like Togher is genuinely welcome and shows that the plan is reaching communities that need it the most.

The ambition of this plan is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that even some of our offshore islands are now being connected. Inishbofin, Inisheer and Inishmaan are due to be connected late this year, while many other island communities are already at the broadband available to order or pre-order stage. This sends a really clear message that no community, no matter how remote, should be left behind in modern infrastructure.

It is also important to recognise the role of the broadband connection hubs and points. These public facilities, whether community centres, libraries, sport centres or enterprise hubs, become a real lifeline in many rural areas before the fibre roll-out is available and has arrived. Over 283 public sites are now connected and offer free public access. For some communities, these hubs meant people could work remotely, students could complete schoolwork and families could stay connected during extremely challenging periods and schools, as has been mentioned, have benefited significantly.

All 672 primary schools within the intervention area received technical connectivity ahead of the fibre roll-out to ensure children in rural Ireland and all across the country were not left waiting for digital access.Around three quarters of these schools have transitioned from wireless solutions to permanent fibre connections. This is hugely important because digital inequality in education quickly becomes educational inequality. While we acknowledge the progress, we also know there is a little bit more work to do. Broadband black spots remain around the current intervention area and I welcome the programme for Government commitment to tackle those areas that may not otherwise be served commercially. No community should be left without broadband because it falls outside a particular map line.

I also welcome the wider digital connectivity strategy, which aims to ensure all Irish homes and businesses are covered by a gigabit network no later than 2028. That ambition is an absolute necessity. Digital connectivity is not a luxury; it is vital. If we are serious about balanced regional development, climate goals, reducing commuting pressures and sustaining rural communities, connectivity has to remain central to Government policy. As spokesperson, I welcome the continued progress of the national broadband plan. It is transforming rural Ireland and the entire country in a practical, measurable and lasting way. There is still work ahead but communities are now seeing tangible progress. For families in places like Togher and countless other rural and urban areas across Ireland, high-speed broadband is no longer some distant promise; it is actually becoming a reality and one I am really looking forward to seeing to its entirety. I thank the Minister of State for coming to this very important debate today.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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Storm Éowyn was the first big test for this Government in the new Dáil term and it took almost three weeks for power and connectivity to be restored to all homes, farms, schools, businesses and clubs. The Government failed that first test but lessons have to be learned. Ministers cannot just sit in meetings or berate Internet providers. We will have other storms similar to Storm Éowyn and power and connectivity will be lost again, especially in rural Ireland. We must do everything to mitigate risks. We must make proactive steps now and into the future to remove potential threats to the network. Storm Éowyn took down over 6,000 telecoms poles that have had to be replaced, along with vast expanses of cables. The majority of this damage was caused by extreme wind hitting diseased and damaged trees.

The length and breadth of this country, there are elderly people doing their best to live independently who rely on health monitoring and pendant alarms. When that damage was caused a number of elderly, vulnerable people had no monitoring in place for an extended period throughout the country. Clearly, that is not acceptable and our citizens' lives are at risk if they cannot call for help. It has been over a year since Storm Éowyn. What will the Government's proactive multi-departmental approach be? Clear proactive actions can be taken now. The Government can review the tree cutting capabilities each local authority has so they can respond adequately when we have another storm event and to tackle trees on public land. It can ensure that landowners are complying with the Roads Act 1993 to remove diseased or damaged roadside trees throughout the State. The Department must engage with pendant alarm providers to identify the vulnerable service users, where they are and what type of network they are connected to. The expert advice we received is that home monitoring health alarm customers should be migrated from copper landline-dependent devices onto newer hardware devices with a mobile network backup. Home monitoring health alarm customers should also be migrated onto modern devices that work with fibre to the home, FTTH, broadband, where such networks are available to them. FTTH networks are significantly more resilient to storm damage than copper landline networks and are more easily repaired. The Government needs to also look at maintaining a stock of monitoring devices that would enable mobile networks that can be deployed by the providers, following major storms to impacted customers likely to experience extended fixed line outages. There is a lot of work to do and there are concerns among rural communities.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for his opening remarks, setting the scene and explaining the current situation. In an era when connectivity is as essential as electricity or clean water, the national broadband plan is reshaping the future of rural Ireland and ensuring that no community, no matter how remote, is left behind. When the plan was first published, I had the privilege of serving on the Oireachtas joint committee on communications. It was an extraordinary moment to be directly involved in shaping a project of such national importance and the then Minister, Richard Bruton, did extraordinary work at that time. From the outset, communities recognised the transformative potential of the plan, and those of us who believed in the plan made sure it went through the committee. I was proud to support its ambition to deliver high-speed broadband to every corner of Ireland. Being part of that work, helping to advance a vision that is now becoming a reality in communities across the country, remains one of the most rewarding responsibilities I have had. Seeing the success of the follow-up today, especially in counties like my own, which I will go back to the figures on later, I am extremely proud of it and to have been one of three committee members from my party then. That early vision has since grown into one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever undertaken by the State. The NBP represents a bold commitment to deliver high-speed fibre broadband to every home, farm, school and business in the country, not just in our cities and towns, but in our villages, our remote townlands and our offshore islands. According to National Broadband Ireland, this is the largest telecommunications project in the history of the State, involving the deployment of fibre across 1.5 million poles and the installation of 142,000 km of new fibre. To date, the roll-out has achieved remarkable milestones. Almost 500,000 detailed surveys have been completed, laying the groundwork for precise planning and efficient construction. Over 2,800 people are now working on the project, bringing together expertise from Ireland and around the world. Their work has already delivered fibre infrastructure to many parts of the country, including some of the most challenging terrain Ireland has to offer. One of the clearest indicators of success is the progress in the State's intervention area, those regions where private operators have no plans to invest. This area involves more than 564,000 premises and 1.1 million people. These are families, farmers, small businesses and schools that would otherwise not have access to normal, modern life. Yet today, thanks to the national broadband plan, high-speed fibre is being delivered to them reliably and affordably.

In Cavan, the NBP is delivering clear and measurable success. According to reporting, up to a few weeks ago, almost 14,800 premises in the county can now connect to the new fibre network, representing the vast majority of the 17,000 premises in the intervention area. The county was among the earliest in the country to see active roll-out and at one stage recorded some of the highest uptakes. Work is now concentrated in the final remaining areas around Bawnboy in west Cavan. Local broadband officers note that most premises are expected to be fully connected by the end of 2026, so it is a huge success. The success of the broadband is not measured in kilometres alone, but in the fact that students in rural schools can now access digital learning tools, small businesses can trade globally from a village in the west, a farmer can adopt smart technologies, medicine can be delivered and there is even talk of e-wards, and we can connect from home and work at home. As we look ahead, the work continues as new homes built in the intervention areas over the past 25 years will also be connected, ensuring that this investment serves not only today's generation, but the next.As the roll-out progresses, more communities will see the benefits of a network designed not just for today's needs, but for the demands of the decades to come. What is wonderful about this is the equality that is in it. It does not distinguish between areas or people. Everybody is getting it and it is making a real difference.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach and Members for their contributions. For the benefit of the House and given the geography of some Members present, I will put on the record that in County Cavan the total investment under the plan is €65 million, the intervention area is 16,780 premises, the number available to preorder at the moment is 15,087 and the number of premises being passed is 14,826. I advise Senator O'Reilly the work will be finished in September.

People often think of Dublin as an urban area, but the investment in Dublin is one of the largest considering the size of the county – it has one of the smallest land-masses - at €48 million. The intervention area comprises 12,971 properties and 10,397 have been passed.

I advise Senator Comyn that County Louth, which also has a relatively small land-mass, is attracting a big investment of €33 million. The intervention area is just short of 9,000 and the total number of premises passed is 6,817. The work will be finished in August. The first counties to be finished in their entirety will be Kilkenny, Longford and Westmeath, which will be finished in June. I thank people for their remarks on the impact the project has made.

On weather, following the devastation of Storm Éowyn, the Government committed to improve resilience in the telecoms sector. I should point out that the Government does not own the telecoms sector, but is an important player in it. The Department continues to engage with a broad range of stakeholders. While Senator Andrews might say we are sitting around, sitting around involves a bit of work every now and again, as is happening at the moment. I would not care if anybody said Senators are just sitting around. They are actually at work.

The Department established a telecoms resilience group, which is a voluntary Government regulator and industry forum chaired by the Department to promote resilience and the high availability of telecoms infrastructure. The group was formed to drive collaboration and co-ordination between industry and State entities in the event of incidences. Atlantic hurricanes are landing in Ireland. These are no longer just storms and the winter is particularly difficult. The first thing that is needed for a telecoms network is a power source. People understand that when isolated places, such as the areas I represent in County Limerick, are left without power for a long time, a power source is needed to provide a telecoms service, notwithstanding the fact that thousands of poles in the telecoms sector were flattened by the storm. Since its establishment in 2025, the group has agreed a number of measures to prioritise resilience across the sector through the national emergency co-ordination group. This year the group will examine prioritisation within the fixed fibre network to ensure a similar level of resilience can be progressed.

As a rural Deputy, I would be very slow to take on board the suggestion Senator Andrews made about landowners. Many are isolated rural and vulnerable people and, as the Cathaoirleach knows, many are elderly. If we want to transfer liability for dangerous trees to vulnerable older people living on the side of a mountain in south Kerry or west Limerick, I am sure that would not go down well. I am not so certain that is his party's position. If it is, it is certainly a new one on me that he wants landowners to be responsible for taking down trees. There are millions of them and it will cost people a lot of money. I do not know how the Senator will fund that, unless he levies landowners. I urge him to be cautious. It would not do his popularity in rural County Limerick any good.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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I am not sure. The Minister of State might have misheard me.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I am sure his colleague, the Senator from Limerick, would not agree with him on his position to levy the landowners in County Limerick with the responsibility of taking down trees.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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I think you misheard me.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I put on the record of the House that I am totally and absolutely opposed to that because many elderly people living on their own, including on my road, have ash trees and everything else that are half dead. If the Sinn Féin position is that people have to pay for the cost of cutting them down, that is news to me.

In general, I welcome the responses from Senators with regard to the progress that has been made. When I came into the Oireachtas 15 years ago, the first word out of everybody's mouth was "broadband" and people asked when they were going to get it. The success of the programme means that very few people now mention broadband. That is attested by the fact that Senator Andrews, and we might have our differences, at least turned up. He is the only Member of the Opposition to turn up to talk about something as important as national infrastructure. It is the biggest investment in State infrastructure since rural electrification. It says an awful lot about the rest of the people who will be crowing about rural Ireland that they are not even here tonight.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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Can I say something?

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Tá deireadh leis an díospóireacht. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as teacht isteach chuig an Teach seo inniu agus páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht.