Delivery of the National Broadband Plan: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Patrick O'Donovan (FG), Limerick County

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28