Since the pandemic began, the need for good broadband throughout the country has become more apparent. As the national broadband plan is being rolled out, there are problems with regard to tree-cutting, the polers and even the guys putting up the wires, although hopefully those problems can be overcome. It is unusual to hear contractors say that as bad as Eir was when they were working for that company, this crowd does not seem to be organised at all. That is despite €7 million having been spent, according to an article in The Irish Times yesterday, on oversight to do this properly. Hopefully, over the coming months it will be got right.

In 2017, we were all invited to Ballinasloe, where Enet and SSE were rolling out broadband. Other counties were mentioned but we were interested mostly in our own. The word, and it is still on the Department's website, was that Ballinasloe would be getting the fastest broadband speeds anywhere in the world. That was still on the website this morning. That was great, and people from different backgrounds jumped up and down. I have seen so many quotations welcoming this great announcement by the spin doctoring of the previous Government.

Garbally College, a fine college in Ballinasloe, is located beside Scoil Uí Cheithearnaigh, an Irish-speaking school that has 204 youngsters. Ballinasloe hospital is located 50 yd to the front of it, a housing estate is 50 yd to the left of it and Ardscoil Mhuire is perhaps 200 yd or 300 yd away from it. Those other schools have broadband brought to them, but funnily enough, despite appeals from the board of management, the principal and the parents' association, this school on the Gaza Strip has been left without broadband. It gets 2 Mbps. The Department, in fairness to it, has sent the school laptops and all the gear that is required. It is like sending somebody the shell of a car without the engine; that is what has happened.

To put it simply, because I know a bit about this, broadband can be brought along a duct within 50 yd from three different sides. Funnily enough, all that the Department of Education has ever said to the school is to go back to the service provider, but the service provider has not provided for this school and those children. Those 204 children in Ballinasloe matter as much as every child in other schools.

I agree with the Deputy. All schools should get the optimal connectivity possible. We have been working with the Department involved with a view to seeing whether we can do something additional to ensure that schools in particular are connected properly and that they have access to the highest level of connectivity. I do not have the specifics on the case the Deputy identified but what he outlined is not good and needs to be dealt with. He referred to an event in 2017, which was three years ago, when he was told that Ballinasloe would have the fasted broadband anywhere in the world. Clearly, that has not yet happened. The national broadband contract was signed in November 2019, two years after that event.

The intervention area covers 1.1 million people, 540,000 premises and 100,000 businesses and farms, along with 695 schools. I do not know whether National Broadband Ireland, NBI, is the other crowd he referred to, in respect of there being one service provider versus another. The design work, we are told, is complete or ongoing in target townlands in every county, with 137,000 premises surveyed as of 3 December. The first fibre-to-home connections are expected shortly in Carrigaline and will be subject to technical testing and validation prior to a wider release in the area. I am told that to ensure swift network roll-out, NBI is taking on more subcontractors and negotiating revised timelines where possible with all third parties involved in the build. Broadband connection points are a key element of the NBP, providing high-speed broadband.

As of 3 December, some 217 broadband connection points had been installed by NBI and 59 of these are now connected with high-speed broadband through a service provider contract with Vodafone, which is managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development. Each local authority is also playing a critical part in the selection and enablement of these broadband connection points, with a broadband officer appointed in each county to help communities. In addition, school broadband connection points are being provided with high-speed broadband for educational use only, through a service provider contract managed by the Department of Education. To date, 25 schools have been connected with high-speed broadband for educational access. The budget allocated €210 million to the roll-out of the national broadband plan.

As I said earlier, I am interested in accelerating the schools programme and perhaps carrying out a discrete school-based initiative to ensure that we can advance and accelerate the programme in respect of schools. If the Deputy can forward me the details of the specifics of the case he identified, I will follow that up.

I welcome the Taoiseach’s response. It is not me talking about the fastest broadband in the world; it is on the Department's website and it was announced by a Minister. We were all invited to this great hoo-ha about what was going on. Generally, when one talks about a town, one talks about 50 km zones. As I have said, there are other providers in the town. There are four different options to ensure that those 204 children are given the same opportunities. It is sad to think that during lockdown, the teachers in question had to go to different places to teach their classes.

I will give the Taoiseach the details he requested, but I do not want one organisation simply to pass the buck to another. The Department of Education has constantly told the school to go back to the service provider. If the service provider is not fit to provide the service, the Department of Education needs to get in somebody new. I will give the Taoiseach the details and I ask him to get the Ministers, Deputies Eamon Ryan and Foley, involved to get these children what they deserve, namely, proper broadband in their school like every school in this country should have.

I agree with the sentiments articulated by the Deputy. I will engage with the Minister for Education on this, and with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and his Department.

At a recent meeting we identified the potential of doing something with the schools. The costs would not be excessive by any means. I did it once previously. As Minister for Education in the late 1990s, we connected every school to the Internet in one year through Eircom at the time. Schools should always be a priority in terms of education and the learning environment. I will certainly engage with the relevant Departments in that respect.