Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy that it is unacceptable that in urban Ireland quality broadband connectivity competes with anything available in any city in Europe but large tracts of rural Ireland have access to a very basic service. The Government’s national broadband plan which I published in August aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses. This will be achieved by providing a policy and regulatory framework that assists in accelerating and incentivising commercial investment and by a State-led intervention for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest. On 25 April I signalled the Government's commitment to a major telecommunications network build-out to rural Ireland, with fibre as a foundation for future-proofed broadband services as part of the State's intervention under the national broadband plan. This commitment is a clear expression of the Government’s determination to address the connectivity challenge in rural Ireland in a meaningful and sustainable way.

Central to the strategy will be a fibre build-out to locations in every county identified as having no existing or planned enabling fibre network. The fibre build-out will be part of an end-to-end strategy that will address all parts of Ireland that cannot access commercial high speed broadband services. I have published a county by county list of towns and villages which have already been identified for a fibre build-out. The list contains over 1,000 rural communities and is available on my Department's website. This is an indicative list only and subject to the completion of the comprehensive mapping process under way. Intensive design work is ongoing in my Department with a view to publishing an end-to-end implementation strategy later this year, together with the outcome of the mapping process which will identify those areas that require intervention.

The proposed State intervention under the national broadband plan represents a significant infrastructural project. Delivery of the fibre network will require careful planning and take time. EU state aid clearance will be required for the intervention strategy once finalised.

It is expected that the detailed procurement process will take place in 2015, with a view to commencing construction of the fibre network at the end of that year.

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