Mobile network operators are continuously enhancing and improving their networks across rural and urban areas. However, I am aware that the quality of network coverage is not uniform across the country. While the availability of mobile phone coverage is primarily a matter for mobile network operators, operating on a commercial basis in a liberalised market, they are regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. In the first instance, where customers are not receiving the coverage, they should contact the customer care team of their mobile phone operator to make a complaint regarding poor coverage and follow their official complaint procedure. Complaints, if not resolved to the consumer's satisfaction, can then be escalated to ComReg. It should be noted that ComReg completed a multi-band spectrum award, MBSA, in January 2023 to assign long-term rights of use in four spectrum bands to enable operators to provide improved services to meet increasing consumer demand for mobile services. This award represented a 46% increase in the harmonised spectrum assigned for the provision of wireless broadband services, including 4G and 5G, in Ireland and included significant coverage obligations for operators. Those MBSA2 licence obligations place a key focus on delivering improved coverage to population centres, such as places where people work and live, rather than solely focusing on geographical coverage. They also focus on improving network coverage of the national primary road network. Those obligations will come into effect on an incremental basis three, five and seven years after the licences were first awarded in 2023. As such,it is expected that ComReg will assess operators’compliance with their three-year obligations under the licence this year. Operators continue to add new capacity to their networks using their newly acquired radio spectrum. The timing of the improvements delivered by mobile operators are influenced in part by their ability to acquire and build new sites for increased coverage. While the Department has no role in developing site-specific strategies for mobile coverage improvements, its digital connectivity strategy, which was published in 2022, sets ambitious targets for fixed and mobile connectivity. To assist consumers to choose the network provider that best meets their needs, ComReg continually updates and enhances its online national outdoor mobile coverage map at coveragemap.comreg.ie, which provides information on mobile network providers for 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks.

Sentiment score: 0.30

I will refer the Deputy's queries directly to ComReg and get a more comprehensive reply with regard to the specific geographical area. I do not know whether operators have, for instance, sought planning permission for masts or other infrastructure in the area or whether, if they have, these have been looked upon favourably by Galway County Council. Anecdotally, all of us in this House know of situations where mobile phone coverage is poor. This is always linked back to the lack of mobile phone infrastructure. We have all been at meetings where people are present who do not want mobile phone masts but who also probably will contact our constituency offices to state they have poor mobile phone coverage. What will make an improvement is the roll-out of the national broadband plan because it will provide for improvement for indoor wireless coverage. That can be vastly improved. The roll-out of that plan by commercial operators is significantly improving across the country, including in County Galway.

Sentiment score: 0.06

In a lot of cases, existing public infrastructure is used for the installation of mobile telephony infrastructure and other infrastructure, for example, by the Office of Public Works for Garda stations and by local authorities when it comes to water towers, reservoirs and other such sites. In its own way, the national broadband plan will improve the quality of internal calls because people will be diverted directly on to their Wi-Fi. They will also be able to make calls via the Internet, which will make things an awful lot easier. I will get a more comprehensive reply from ComReg to the specific issue the Deputy has raised, which relates to the town of Mountbellew.

Sentiment score: 0.18

In December 2022, Ireland's digital connectivity strategy was published, which supports the ambition outlined in the national digital strategy and sets out a number of targets including that all households and businesses will be covered by a gigabit network not later than 2028. The Programme for Government: Securing Ireland's Future, published in January 2025, sets a number of targets which include the completion of the installation of high-speed fibre broadband to 1.1 million people, including houses, farms and businesses nationwide, by 2026. The NBP is the Government's initiative to deliver high-speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland. National Broadband Ireland is connecting approximately 4,500 homes every month. In the Deputy's own county of Cork, NBI has passed 56,360 premises with a high-speed fibre broadband connection and over 58,750 are available to order or pre-order, with 18,996 premises now connected. A further almost 26,600 premises in Cork will be passed by NBI's high-speed fibre broadband by the end of the network deployment. Further details on specific areas within County Cork can be monitored via the NBI's website. The National Broadband Ireland roll-out will include 4,190 premises in Dunmanway, 963 premises in Ballingeary and 3,975 premises in the Carriganimmy deployment area. Network build is in progress for all three of the deployment areas, and all premises in the Dunmanway deployment area will be made available to order or passed in the period July 2026 to September 2026, while the deployment areas of Ballingeary and Carriganimmy will be made available to order or passed in the period October 2026 to December 2026 - so by the end of the year. The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available can be found on NBI's website. This website is regularly updated and provides the expected timelines for the delivery and status of works in any area.

Sentiment score: 0.11

I can confirm that the work is ahead of time. As well as being ahead of schedule, the work is also ahead of budget. When Deputy Moynihan and I first came into the Dáil there was a time when broadband was the be all and end all and came up every second day. You could not stick your head outside the door but someone would take it off over broadband. Thankfully, we made an awful lot of progress. As of 9 January, National Broadband Ireland reports that 62,996 km of cable has been installed. I do not know how far away the moon is from here, but I think it is a couple of times the distance from here to the moon. Some 181,757 poles have been installed. A total of 568,081 premises have been completed. A total of 567,132 premises have been submitted to Open Eir to make ready for works, and 519,013 premises have had Open Eir works completed. An enormous amount of work has been done. Deputy Moynihan answered part of the question earlier: we had to start somewhere and we have to finish somewhere. The Deputy made specific points about Ballingeary and Carriganimmy. I will see if they can be truncated with existing works and I will come back to him on that.

Sentiment score: 0.07

That is no bother. The most important assurances that I can give him is that the work is running 12 months ahead of schedule at the moment nationally, which is a massive achievement for the Government. When this was being done first, certain people in this House and certain commentators in the media said it was an awful waste of money. I do not know where those people are today, but I do not hear them crowing about it today or saying that it was a waste of money. The people in the Deputy's constituency, and in my constituency, which borders it, would say that is far from a waste of money. Those political commentators will have their own day out in the near future when this is completed. I will find out whether the existing works can be truncated. I know from my own constituency that there is always going to be someone at the end of a road where the work stops. In fairness to the contractors working for National Broadband Ireland at the moment, they are all over the country. We pass them everywhere. We see so many of them that they are almost part of the fabric of the local area now. The statistics in relation to this are absolutely phenomenal: 63,000 km of cable laid. That is an absolutely massive feat of engineering. I will come back to the Deputy on the specifics.

Sentiment score: -0.11

I thank the Deputy for raising this. The provision of local arts centres is a matter in the first instance for the relevant local authority. County and city development plans are drawn up by local authorities, including the policy objectives for development of the arts. Annual support, including programming and revenue supports, is provided to the arts and culture centres by local authorities and the Arts Council. My Department provides grants as a contribution towards maintaining and enhancing existing arts and culture infrastructure but does not provide funding for the purchase of buildings. The Complex had been leasing its building from a private landlord on a site ringfenced for redevelopment. Officials from my Department met with the chair of The Complex and other members of the team in December 2024 and advised them that the Department was not in a position to fund the purchase of the property. Further communication in June 2025 reiterated that position. More recently, The Complex kept the Department updated of the evolving situation with its tenancy and I am aware that they were in close contact with Dublin City Council during this time. I regret that a solution could not be found with the developer to keep them in their current building, and I understand the council is now supporting them in sourcing alternative accommodation. Separately, my Department is engaged with Dublin City Council on the potential transfer of part of the site of the Digital Hub in the Liberties area of Dublin to the local authority. I have requested that the city council consider whether any of the activities which are currently conducted at The Complex could in time be facilitated in the Digital Hub complex. The Department would be happy to work with the city council on any proposals, including consideration of whether any of the Department’s funding schemes could be of assistance in this regard. More broadly, the Department has allocated €3 million in funding to Space to Create, an initiative that aims to provide up to 60 artist workspaces in Dublin city, and these projects are currently being progressed in partnership with the city council. In addition, under the artist workspace scheme, €6 million capital funding is available for local authorities to increase the provision of artist workspaces across Ireland. In December 2025, I announced just under €1 million for five local authorities for the development of up to 22 workspaces, which brings the total awarded under this scheme to date at €1.2 million.

Sentiment score: 0.24

We have been looking at a strategy with regard to arts infrastructure. We may be bring forward an arts capital scheme similar to the sports capital scheme we administer. To reiterate, we have offered Dublin City Council properties to look at that have wound up in the charge of the Department through the Digital Hub in the Liberties. I would say you could puck a ball from the Digital Hub to where The Complex was. I hope Dublin City Council will engage with it. These buildings were previously offered to the city council for other uses, and it refused them. The Office of Public Works has part of the buildings taken. We will try to do whatever we can. We do not acquire buildings. We do not buy buildings. The only agencies that buy buildings publicly for the State are either councils - the largest one is Dublin City Council, which is the best resourced and best financed in the country - or the Office of Public Works. I put that on the record of the House before. If Dublin City Council wants to look at properties we have wound up with, we will be happy to engage with it to see if alternative accommodation could be sourced.

Sentiment score: 0.19

I will not get into the finances of Dublin City Council either. Suffice to say, and the Deputy knows this probably better than I do, that it is one of a few local authorities in the country that has consistently reduced their property tax over the number of years. If it can afford to do that, maybe it could afford to see. While there is money coming out of the council-----

Sentiment score: 0.12

-----going to places like Leitrim and Sligo, I am sure Deputy Martin Kenny would be very upset with Deputy Ó Snodaigh suggesting the money should not be going to Sligo and Leitrim from Dublin City Council.

Sentiment score: 0.23

I am not going to lecture a former member of Dublin City Council on the reduction of the rates in Dublin City Council-----

Sentiment score: 0.00

-----either commercial or housing. Suffice to say, I welcome the opportunity for Dublin City Council to engage with us on the property we do own. The Office of Public Works owns quite a considerable amount as well. It cannot just throw its hands up in the air and say this is all the Government's fault and problem. If we are coming forward with alternative accommodation the least it could do is engage with us. Yes, it will require money, but it is the wealthiest local authority in the country, and it should invest in the arts on that basis.

Sentiment score: 0.25