As has been discussed on numerous occasions before the summer break, the programme for Government makes a commitment regarding the roll-out of the national broadband plan. Could the Taoiseach advise me about its current status because I have been asked by many people in my constituency of Sligo-Leitrim, south Donegal and north Roscommon about the status of the plan?

The implementation of the national broadband plan is very much underway. Every minute of every working day, two doors are now being passed with 1,000 megabits per second of high-speed broadband so in the hour we have spent here in the Dáil, an additional 120 premises have been passed in respect of high-speed fibre thus allowing them to access high-speed broadband. Every week, an additional 300 farms are connected. When this Government came into office in April 2016, 52% of premises in the country had access to high-speed broadband.

That is up to 65% already. That is a 13% increase in only a year and a bit. It will be up to 77% by the end of next year. We are making good progress on its implementation. Having gone from 52% last April to 65% now, we anticipate getting to 77% by the end of December and continuing to increase it from there until we become the first country in the world in which every home has access to high-speed broadband.