Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

While the provision of broadband services is, in the first instance, a matter for the private sector and broadband is now widely available in Ireland, there are still some parts of the country where the private sector is unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services. These areas are being addressed by the national broadband scheme, NBS, which will provide broadband services to areas that are currently not served and will ensure that all requests for broadband from those areas not served are met.

Initially, the mapping exercise undertaken as part of the NBS distinguished between areas where a service is currently provided, marked as red areas on the map; areas where no service is currently provided and is unlikely to be provided in the future, white areas; and areas that are not currently served but service providers had indicated that they planned to provide broadband services in those areas in the future, blue areas.

Service providers were given until 30 June 2008 to act on their stated intentions to roll out broadband in the blue areas of the map. As the end of June 2008 has now passed, any blue area where a service provider has failed to roll out services has been changed to white to reflect the fact that no service is available in the area. Any blue area where a service provider now provides a service has been changed to red to reflect the fact that the service is available in the area.

Consequently, the NBS map is now being updated and the next iteration of the map will show areas that are served, red areas and areas where no service is available, white areas. The map will reflect the red and white areas as they stood on 30 June 2008. There will be no blue areas in the next iteration of the map, which will be the final map that will issue with the invitation to tender.

The first phase of the NBS procurement process is now complete. The remaining candidates have been engaged in competitive dialogue with my Department and are developing their proposed solutions to meet my Department's requirements. The dialogue between the remaining candidates and my officials has proven to be very effective with all parties addressing and resolving potential ambiguities in the first invitation to tender documentation. This effort, which has given rise to unanticipated work in advance of the issuing of the final invitation to tender, will minimise the need for negotiations at the contract award stage of the project.

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