Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The national broadband plan aims to deliver high-speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. The programme for Government commits to the delivery of the national broadband plan as a matter of priority.  This is being achieved through private investment by commercial telecommunications companies, at a rate of some €1.4 million per day, and through State intervention in areas where commercial investment has not been fully demonstrated. 

The Department is now in a formal procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll out a new high-speed broadband network to over 750,000 premises in Ireland, covering 100,000 km of road network and 96% of the land area of Ireland.

The programme for Government also commits to measures to assist in the roll-out of the national broadband plan State intervention network once a contract is awarded. In this regard, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys, is leading on the establishment of two regional action groups working with local authorities, local enterprise offices and other relevant agencies to unlock barriers to investment in mobile and broadband services.  Since July, there has been significant progress made in discussions with the key stakeholders, including local authority management representation, Government Departments and State agencies, as well as interaction with ComReg and telecoms operators.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht and I also established a mobile phone and broadband task force in July 2016. The task force will recommend practical actions that can be taken in the short term to improve mobile phone and broadband access in Ireland. The work of the task force will also assist local authorities in preparing for the roll-out of the new national broadband network once the contract or contracts are in place. I expect that the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and I will bring the report of the task force to Government in the coming weeks.

I am satisfied that the combination of initiatives to improve wireless services and the procurement process to deliver a new high-speed broadband network under the national broadband plan will put Ireland to the forefront internationally in terms of connectivity, and ensure that high-speed broadband services are universally available across the country.

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