Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The national broadband plan draft intervention strategy which was published on 15 July 2015 sets out a series of detailed proposals by Government in respect of the proposed State intervention. It sets out the key elements of the intervention, what services are proposed and how they will be delivered. It outlines various aspects of the proposed intervention, including the type of network envisaged, the minimum speeds envisaged, the length of the contract for services and whether the network should be public or privately owned.

The draft intervention strategy has been developed following intensive engagement with industry and wider stakeholders. In addition, the European Commission has set out detailed guidelines on what is required to obtain state aid approval for Government interventions in the broadband sector. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has followed these guidelines when formulating the proposed intervention strategy. Through ongoing commercial investment, most of our cities and towns will benefit from high speed broadband over the coming years. The areas that are not covered by commercial investment are the target for State-funded investment.

Last November, the Minister published a national high speed coverage map for 2016, which is available at The map shows Ireland with two colours, blue and amber, and was developed based on the most up-to-date information available at the time of publication. The areas marked blue represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services by the end of 2016. The areas marked amber represent those areas where the State intends to intervene to ensure those areas will have access to high speed broadband services and this includes all the offshore islands.

The Department is currently in the process of updating the map, taking into consideration any new information received or operator announcements made of any new plans. It is expected that an updated version of the map will be published before the end of this year. The national broadband plan's ambition is to achieve 100% access to high speed broadband by the end of 2020, with 85% of all premises covered by 2018. I assure the Deputy that communities in offshore islands will be served either through commercial investment or State intervention.

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