 The government has said the rollout of high-speed broadband to 537,596 premises in rural Ireland will begin within eight weeks after the contract for the 3bn National Broadband Plan NBP was signed today. Communications Minister Richard Bruton and and US businessman David McCourt, chairman of the National Broadband Ireland NBI consortium, signed the contract at a school in Co. Wicklow this morning after the EU granted approval for the scheme on Friday. The contract signing brings to an end a seven-year process following the announcement of the project by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government in 2012 and several controversies. Eir 