In April 2017, a commitment agreement was signed with eir in relation to its plans to provide high-speed broadband to 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis. However, when Ophelia hit on 16 October 2017, necessary resources were redirected to areas affected in order to restore service.

“Officials from my Department were informed by eir that its Q4 targets would be impacted by the effects of storm Ophelia,” Minister for Communications Denis Naughten confirmed in response to a parliamentary question from Willie Penrose.

“In line with the force majeure terms of the commitment agreement and, with the Department’s approval, eir’s Q4 2017 target for listed eircodes passed under its rural deployment was adjusted from approximately 30,000 to approximately 20,000.”

According to the latest figures, eir reached this revised target with an overall total of 121,000 listed eircodes passed as of December 2017.

“I further understand that eir, in the process of including extra premises in its rollout, where the situation on the ground required or allowed for, has in fact covered a total of 131,000 premises passed as of December 2017,” Naughten added.

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