Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The question relates to the State-led investment aspect of the plan and when I expect to be in a position to commence the public procurement process.

Under the national broadband plan the Government aims to ensure that high-speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses in Ireland, through a combination of commercial investment and a State-led intervention.

The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5 billion in network upgrades and at least 1.6 million of the 2.3 million addresses in Ireland are expected to have access to commercial high-speed broadband services over the next number of years.

Under EU state-aid guidelines, member states cannot intervene where commercial investors have plans to roll out services. A comprehensive mapping exercise is underway in my Department to identify those areas that require State intervention. An initial examination has already identified a significant number of areas that will require State intervention.

As part of the mapping process, an initial stakeholder consultation on certain technical aspects of the proposed plan was launched in June last with a deadline of 15 September. Some 32 submissions were received as part of this process and non-commercially sensitive versions of these responses are being published today on my Department's website - that was the reference I made earlier to Deputy Moynihan about something happening this week.

I intend to publish shortly the map to which I referred. Those accessing this map will be able to identify their own house or premises and see whether it is in the proposed intervention footprint. Where a house or premises is not in the proposed intervention area, it means it either currently has, or will in the near future have, access to commercial high-speed broadband services. The map will be subject to change as new information becomes available or commercial investments are announced in the future.

A further public consultation on a detailed intervention strategy will be launched in mid-2015. My Department is also working closely with the European Commission with a view to obtaining state aid clearance.

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