Since the pandemic, the national broadband programme and its importance have been underlined for everybody. When the programme was first introduced, there were debates on whether it represented value for money, but at this stage it is well understood by everybody that broadband is essential to the running of commerce and government, and even social networks. The original objective was to implement the national broadband plan within seven years. The Government has committed to reviewing this and to finding a way to …

The current position is that when a consumer asks National Broadband Ireland for information the company will provide it up to a certain point. For the coming two years, consumers can find out whether their home is in a given district and when that district is due to be done. Beyond that, the company has not provided data. One of the reasons is that the times are being shortened. The whole plan is being reworked. Another reason is that there is uncertainty in years three, four and five about exactly what point thes…

The Deputy makes a good point. The whole experience, from the point of view of the public, of finding out when a household's broadband will be connected should be clear and transparent and similar to the experience of a consumer dealing with a commercial provider. I absolutely accept that. The Deputy makes the point that he believes the contract with National Broadband Ireland should include terms along those lines. The contract is being renegotiated at the moment and we are approaching a point where we will have a…

There are 38,897 premises in the intervention area in County Galway that will receive access to high-speed broadband under the national broadband plan, NBP. I am advised that, as of 27 May, 14,914, or 38%, of these have been surveyed by National Broadband Ireland, NBI. Surveying is the first step towards delivering the new fibre network and informs design solutions for the provision of that network. The detailed designs are then used to initiate the "make ready" project with open eir whereby open eir ensures that a…

That is very kind of the Deputy. She has it right. I am not sure I understand her reference to Kafka but the answer is that these 5,340 premises will be connected later in the year. It is a multistage process. There is a step where premises are surveyed, a step where they are moved past and a step where they are connected. This is happening in counties all around in Ireland in parallel. Those premises near Galway city and in Ballinasloe will be the first connected. I am not sure what part of that is unclear, comple…

I can come back to the Deputy with a breakdown of how many of these premises are in Galway city and the Ballinasloe area or with any further information that would be useful to her. My office is always open for the Deputy to contact me. One thing I did not get to say is that broadband connection points have been rolled out. The idea is to set up areas in villages or towns that have broadband which can be used by anyone living in the area. Some 317 of these have been set up around the country. They can be rolled out…

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for this timely question. The threat of attack by cyber criminals is increasing across the world.  Ireland is recognised by the global cybersecurity index as one of the countries that are ranked highly in terms of our commitment to cybersecurity. Addressing the growing threat requires a combination of responses, including actions by the State, by individual organisations and by all of us, as citizens. While ensuring the security of the networks and information systems of organisations is a …

I cannot say what the review will bring, but I can say what it is meant to determine. Under the terms of reference, the review is to establish if the NCSC is fit for purpose, if it is lacking anything, if it needs any additional skills or staff and how it compares with other similar organisations across Europe and the world. That is the purpose of the review. The review is due in quarter 2 of this year and will report in the coming weeks. I will need to consider it carefully in light of the recent events. It cannot…

I thank the Deputies. The budget for the NCSC was trebled last year. The review was initiated more than six months ago and so it is not that we are reacting to this incident suddenly. I was asked about co-operation with FDI companies and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies. That is critical and it goes on all of the time. We have been interacting with those agencies and companies and they have been raising this issue with us over many years. There is nothing new there. Deputy Ó Murchú asked abou…

I thank the Deputy. I know he has previously asked this question about the digital hub so it is obviously a topic of interest to him. Following a strategic review, which concluded that the digital hub is no longer required to sustain the continued growth of Dublin's digital enterprise sector, the Government decided on 27 April that the Digital Hub Development Agency, DHDA, should be dissolved and its land and property assets transferred to the Land Development Agency, LDA. This decision has been communicated to the…

The DHDA did great work over that time. It regenerated the area and brought businesses back into it. However, the view at this stage is that its purpose has been served and it has delivered what it was asked to do. Dublin city is filled with enterprises and start-ups but what is lacking is housing. Providing housing for 500 families is a really critical thing to do. It is not just about providing 500 units or apartments but enabling 500 families to live in a community, with access to the amenities they need and the…

I do not want to misrepresent Deputy Ó Snodaigh but my understanding is that he is asking why we have to build housing on this particular site when there are plenty of other sites that could be used. He is saying that we should not build it in this place when it could be built in some other place. In fact, it is not an either-or choice. The sites the Deputy mentioned should also be developed for housing. One or two housing sites are not going to do it. We need a great deal of high-quality, new community housing wit…

It is indeed no surprise that there are questions on the national broadband scheme. Every Deputy in the House wants to know about the acceleration of broadband provision and when it will come to their area. It is not just an issue for rural areas. Even in urban areas, there are black spots. As I outlined in my reply to Deputy Canney's question, the programme for Government commits to seek to accelerate the roll-out of the national broadband plan, NBP. My Department is currently engaging with National Broadband Irel…

I agree with the point the Deputy is making. The State could take the approach of just negotiating these details on a friendly basis with the companies concerned without putting things on a contractual basis. However, we have taken the option to push for a contractual basis in order to have a legal agreement in place rather than relying on agreements made on the basis of good faith. As I said, there is continual pressure for broadband roll-out from every Deputy. There will be a focus from the public on getting info…

It will be difficult and disappointing for anybody in year 4 or year 5 who feels an immediate need and is faced with this long gap. The Deputy suggests looking at technologies like satellite or fixed wireless and he is absolutely correct. Those technologies are developing all the time. One of the things about a project like this is that the assumptions made at the start or the environment at the start will be very different a couple of years later as technology develops. Fixed wireless access will be suitable in so…

The national broadband plan State-led intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland under a contract 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. Despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, National Broadband Ireland has made steady progress on delivery of the new high-speed fibre network under…

The Deputy's first question was on whether the 220,000 homes had been passed. No, but they have been surveyed. The number of homes that have been passed and are ready for connection to broadband is 4,000. The first of those was connected this year in Carrigaline. The Deputy asked whether the pandemic had delayed the deployment. The answer is "Yes". The original deployment plans for the first year will not be met. However, the deployment plans for later years will be greater. The new contract will define that accele…

The Deputy's first point was about how working from home underlined the need for broadband. It creates greater demand, as people working from home will need more broadband for their video meetings and so on. The Deputy asked whether there were penalty clauses. As I understand it, there are none in the current contract. The Deputy also asked about the Minister's representative on NBI. I might defer to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, if he has an answer. I do not have the answer, but I can get the Deputy that information …

The short answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". Today's linear economic model, which is based around take-make-waste, is environmentally and economically unsustainable. The programme for Government recognises that Ireland needs to establish a circular economy to help achieve our climate ambitions. As a first step in that process, the Minister launched a new waste action plan for a circular economy in 2020. This action plan goes beyond waste management. It looks at resource use much more broadly to capture and m…

We are at the public consultation stage. We need budgets and timelines, but we must first establish what our principles are. I agree we need to take a radical look at practices like fast fashion. Since they are cultural, they will be difficult to change. Deputy Bruton has made insightful contributions to the process so far. They are of great use to me. I thank him for putting in the effort to provide that information, which I am sure is based partly on his experience as Minister.