-----NBI could apply for a compensation payment-----

-----and if it can show a loss of revenue as a result and that it is more expensive for it to deploy the network, then that would be adjudicated and NBI could get a payment-----

-----but none of these payments has been made.

Sorry?

If the Deputy wants me to explain why a previous Administration signed the contract, then we are now into a sort of archaeological discussion.

My focus is on delivering the contract as it is. If the Deputy wants to look at what the rationale was for the terms of the contract, I would probably have to go back and speak to the people who signed the contract.

We have our working contract. My focus is making sure everybody complies with the terms of the contract and making sure everybody in rural areas gets broadband as fast as possible.

If the Deputy gives me examples of those, I will trace them down and find an answer for him.

I do not doubt the Deputy for a second. As with any roll-out, there are developments and changes and people's dates move. At the start, I asked that people be told honestly what year we were planning to connect them, even if it disappoints them to find out that they will be in the sixth or seventh year. It means that as things change and the roll-out progresses, if it is found that something will be later or earlier, that person will get an email stating that his or her connection date has changed, been revised and…

I believe that the former Minister's target of reaching 90% of homes by 2024 related to all homes in Ireland and not just the national broadband intervention area. Maybe that is providing confusion. Some 22% of homes are in the intervention area. The intention was to reach, or that we would have done, 60% of them by the end of 2024. In other words, 60% of the intervention area homes would be done. That, added to the number of homes that were passed in the urban area, would give a figure of 90% of people with broadb…

Today, construction of rural broadband is going on in 26 counties in Ireland. In other words, no county is being left until the end of the pile. In 26 different counties broadband is being installed simultaneously. A decision was made to make sure that no county was left behind and only done when other counties were done. Construction is going on in-----

I have the figures. Does the Deputy want me to tell her how many are under construction in each of those counties? In Donegal, 5,681 premises are under construction. In Leitrim, 954 are under construction. Construction is going on in every-----

We will make sure that we provide the Deputy with as much information as possible in as transparent a way as possible. We might be getting lost in the details. I am happy to talk to the Deputy directly about this.

I am not saying the Deputy is wrong. I am saying there is construction-----

-----in every county in Ireland on the broadband plan. Fibre is being installed in every single county.

I did not say that, to be fair.

I probably will not take 15 minutes. I thank the Dáil for the invitation to address it on the roll-out of the historic national broadband plan. I reaffirm to the House that this plan remains a top priority for the Government. I am sure that this House strongly supports the overarching objective of the programme to deliver a high-speed broadband fibre network to more than 554,000 premises, 1.1 million people, over 100,000 farms and non-farm businesses and some 679 schools. The national broadband plan high-speed broa…

As ever, it is my honour and pleasure to address the Seanad on what is, I am sure, an important matter of interest to everybody in Ireland. I reaffirm to the House that the national broadband plan remains a top priority for the Government. I am sure the Seanad strongly supports the overarching objective of the programme to deliver a high-speed broadband fibre network to over 554,000 premises, 1.1 million people, over 100,000 farms and non-farm businesses and some 679 schools. The national broadband plan high-speed …

I thank the Senators for all of their contributions. I listened carefully to them and they are all valuable. The national broadband plan is not like other national broadband plans around Europe that I have come across. I have spoken to other ministries who are trying to do something similar to what we are doing and our plan is different in two basic ways. The first is that we are trying to bring fibre to 100% of premises, that is, to every single home, farm and business. When I said that to other ministries I was t…

I thank the Chair and Senators. I am back again. I thank Senator Malcolm Byrne for bringing this legislation to the House. It is clearly well received by everybody. The Government will not oppose it. My staff tell me it is very well drafted and that it is fiendishly complex to do so because they have been working on the same problem. We have had advertising and awareness-raising campaigns about littering and they have been successful. It is now socially unacceptable and shameful to throw litter on the ground. Every…