Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Burke and Fitzpatrick, and the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, for their comments supporting the motion.

The importance of rolling out high speed broadband to premises, schools and businesses right across the country cannot be underestimated.

The Government's national broadband plan aims conclusively to address Ireland's connectivity challenges by ensuring that every premises in the country has access to high speed broadband services. As Minister with responsibility for the revitalisation of rural Ireland, I recognise the national broadband plan is essential to the future economic prosperity and social development of rural Ireland. The plan will be delivered through measures to incentivise and accelerate industry investment and an ambitious investment programme by the State in areas where there is no economic rationale for industry to invest.

It is important the House recognises the sheer scale of what is being envisaged. The impact of the roll-out of high speed broadband on rural Ireland will be profound and lasting. The programme for a partnership Government commits to measures to assist in the roll-out of the network both before and after contracts are awarded. In line with this commitment, I recently commenced a series of meetings with local authorities and their chief executives to reinforce the importance of the roll-out of broadband and explain exactly what will be required of them. I told them I wanted to work closely with them to deliver for rural Ireland. I will be asking them to establish dedicated working groups to overcome any possible barriers and ensure there will be no unnecessary delays in rolling out this important infrastructure for rural communities.

I will also establish a number of regional broadband task forces, working with local authorities, local enterprise offices, Leader groups and other relevant agencies. By working closely with local authorities over the next 12 months, I want to ensure rural towns and villages are broadband ready once the State contract is signed in summer 2017. The regional task forces will help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland by ensuring there are no local barriers to deployment and identifying priority areas for roll-out. I want local authorities to work with my Department in developing county broadband plans in preparation for the national roll-out. All the measures are designed to help ensure a timely roll-out of the network to counties.

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