Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The national broadband plan aims to ensure every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State-led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided. I will make the reply available to Deputies rather than read it all because time is short. As they will be aware, a mapping exercise is in place. As a matter of fact, every single home and premises can be accessed and identified on the map which is interactive. Of course, it does not have a facility to count all of them, which is the issue the Deputy is raising, but we think there is something in the order of 2.3 million addresses in Ireland, approximately 1.6 million of which are expected to be served, in terms of the indications the commercial sector has given, with high speed broadband being provided by commercial companies in the next 18 months. That is the commitment which has been given by the commercial sector. I understand high speed services are available to approximately 1.2 million addresses. As the Deputy knows and as I mentioned earlier, eircom recently made a further announcement on an investment to cover a further 300,000 addresses. I can tell the Deputy that my Department is rigorously examining the assurances from eircom and other operators in respect of their plans. This is a requirement to be met by all operators. While we take seriously what the commercial sector states to us, we do not take it at face value. We look carefully at what it is stating to us in order that we can ensure the private sector will do what is commercially viable and the intervention required to be made by the State will only be made in those areas where the commercial sector will not go. We want to minimise the cost to the Exchequer and the system of the broadband plan. As I mentioned earlier to Deputy Michael Moynihan, the plan is progressing very well. We will have a full intervention strategy going to the Government in July. I hope we will be in the pre-notification process in respect of State aid rules to get to the procurement process by the end of the year.

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