I have a similar question to one the Tánaiste was asked previously. It relates to his proposal on facilitating working from home and the idea of 20% of public servants working in that scenario and, obviously, Covid-19 being a major accelerator of it. The Tánaiste, however, said he was exploring the possibilities of acceleration of the national broadband plan. I know the Minister, Deputy Ryan, said he had conversations with National Broadband Ireland, NBI. We have also been told by NBI in committee meetings that it has its own team looking at acceleration and we are expecting updated timelines and deadlines within the next period.

The Tánaiste spoke about increasing remote working hubs, which I believe falls under the remit of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. What exactly is the Tánaiste's plan regarding this acceleration? What dealings has he had with NBI and with the Ministers, Deputies Ryan and Humphreys?

The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has engaged with NBI on this. He and I together have engaged with Eir on it and we are exploring any possibilities that exist to speed up the roll-out of the national broadband plan. Unfortunately, it is running a little bit behind because of Covid-19. It is running a few months behind but we want to accelerate it and, if possible, make it a four- to five-year programme rather than the seven-year programme it is now. At a minimum, however, we will connect 100,000 homes, farms and businesses across rural Ireland every year. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I are working together on the issue of remote hubs and we have additional funding for them this year. There are 300 hubs across the country and we want to upgrade them and build more. There will be funding for that as well.