Ms Katherine Licken:

I thank the committee for inviting the Department to discuss this important topic. I am joined by my colleague Mr. Fergal Mulligan, programme director for the national broadband plan, Mr. Patrick McCarthy, who is responsible for the national broadband scheme, and Mr. Patrick Neary, the technical director for the national broadband plan. I do not intend to dwell on some of the statistics as ComReg has taken us through them very comprehensively. I have passed around copies of my presentation.

By way of scene setting, consumer demand has rocketed not just for broadband services, but for proper high-speed broadband services. That is the real conundrum and challenge facing industry and Government in terms of investing to meet the demand. It is useful to be aware of certain statistics to understand why this is so important. Online consumer spending is approximately €6 billion this year. There is a statistic - it is another part of our brief - that 70% of that spend is going overseas. It is something we must address as part of the national digital strategy. That is why we have a trading-online voucher scheme and other measures to get citizens and businesses online. The projected online spend by 2020 is €20 billion, which shows where consumers and businesses are moving.

There has been huge growth in traffic over all of the networks, which is not just a phenomenon in Ireland, but rather is an international one. It is being driven in particular by video services over various platforms, not just television. It is a challenge and Ireland is not alone in having to meet the demand for high-speed services. Every country faces it. Many of the online services consume far more bandwidth than was previously the case. We have surpassed all expectations in terms of the bandwidth being consumed. There is barely a job anywhere that does not rely on ICT. Clearly, it is a hugely important area. It is a key priority for the Government.

The national broadband plan has a serious ambition which is that 100% of premises in Ireland will have access to high-speed broadband and that all citizens and businesses can access high-speed services regardless of location. No matter where a person or business is based, there will be access to future-proofed, high-speed broadband. We have set a minimum benchmark of 30 Mb to be available to all. That will be a minimum with an ability to scale up to meet demand as we have seen how the growth in demand has posed particular challenges.

The broadband plan aims to achieve that through two means. The first is commercial investment - helping to accelerate commercial investment and helping the commercial sector to invest more. As we have seen, ComReg is saying that commercial investment of approximately €2.5 billion is taking place involving the various commercial operators. When we launched the broadband plan in 2012, we thought the State would have to address approximately 1.3 million of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland. Thanks to the accelerated investment by industry, the area that the State must address has shrunk by about 50%. In 2012, Eircom committed to addressing one million premises. It has now committed to addressing 1.6 million premises, which is very helpful. There are other operators, which we will come to, who are also investing and making a huge impact.

The second key commitment, which I am sure members are especially interested in, is the fact the Government has committed to intervene in the balance of those areas where it is-----