Louth TD says broadband rollout figures 'cause for huge concern'

An update from National Broadband Ireland (NBI) about the progress being made in in rolling out fibre to homes is "a cause of huge concern", Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on broadband, Ruairí Ó Murchú TD, has said. 

The Louth deputy received the update from NBI which shows that despite the "much reduced" target of 60,000 homes to be passed for broadband by the end of January, just over 40,000 were, with the target for the end of 2022 being reduced to 102,000 from the original target of 205,000. The matter was raised in Leinster House with Minister Ossian Smyth by Darren O’Rourke TD today who said it was "time to raise a flare" about what was happening with the rollout. 

Deputy Ó Murchú said: "The update from NBI is a huge cause of concern to me, and to those who have put their faith in the rollout of broadband under this scheme. The 60,000 target for January was already way below the original target of 115,000 and Covid 19 is being blamed for that, but just 40,053 homes were actually done to the end of March this year.

"This is obviously significantly lower than the already low target. Pressure has to be maintained by government to ensure that the rollout of broadband continues at as fast a rate as possible. The fewer premises that are passed for broadband means the longer the people at the end of the list will have to wait."

He continues, "the government talks a lot about remote working and hubs for people who wish to work close to home, but they need to ensure that reality is closer to their aspirations and ensure that the broadband in this State is fit for purpose. People cannot wait longer than they are already for broadband. While I accept that there have been difficulties for every sector caused by Covid 19, and while I accept that the way NBI is set up is not what I would have wanted from the start, the government has to take responsibility and ensure that everything possible is being done to ensure that the broadband plan is ramped up this year.

"NBI was meant to have 205,000 homes passed by January 2023, that figure is now down to 102,000 and at the current rate of work, they will not even reach 60,000 this year. The government cannot keep making excuses for NBI, and telling the public they are financially penalising NBI for not reaching the targets. Neither of these things gets broadband into people’s homes any faster.

"Minister Smyth told Deputy O’Rourke that there are penalties being imposed on NBI because of the targets being missed and we need more detail on what these are. We also need more detail on what NBI says the ongoing issues are that are stalling the project. We are certainly a long way from ‘acceleration’."