The National Broadband Plan is set to miss its revised target of 60,000 homes by the end of the year, according to a former minister for communications.
Independent TD, Denis Naughten said instead the project will pass 35,000 homes by January 1, missing the target by 25,000.
Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Ossian Smyth told the Roscommon-Galway representative that between 50,000 and 60,000 homes will be passed or be able to pre-order broadband by the end of next January.
Naughten said: “It is deeply disappointing that revised targets set just last September will not be reached by the end of December.”
Broadband rollout
“In reality, this means there is a further delay in the delivery of broadband to homes, which is now running 12 months behind target.
“These delays are due, at least in part, to the failure of government over the last two years to address bottlenecks within the planning and regulatory system,” he said.
Naughten claimed that the mobile phone and broadband taskforce has not met with National Broadband Ireland (NBI) since it signed the contract to deliver the plan in November 2019.
The TD welcomed a commitment from Minister Smyth to re-establish the taskforce, but said it should not have taken two years to happen.
“It is now clear that a multi-agency approach, led from the cabinet table, is needed to get this project back on track and to fast-track the delivery of the most important infrastructure project of this generation.
“The current programme for government, published after Covid-19 hit, promised to fast track the delivery of high-speed broadband to every home in Ireland, but all we have seen since then is hand-wringing and little in the way of action,” Naughten remarked.
Hurdles
Minister Smyth said he regularly meets with National Broadband Ireland (NBI) and recently met with the chief executive of eir to make sure all stakeholders can work together.
The minister said that Covid-19 along with the sheer scale and complexity of rolling out fibre to homes in a rural environment were among the challenges faced by NBI.
“It is essential people in rural Ireland have high-speed broadband so they can live their lives, and I will do everything I can to ensure the project is delivered correctly and on time,” Smyth said.