Dáil debates

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

12:00 pm

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government believes in an economy that is based on equal opportunity, that is, the opportunity for every individual and family, as well as every region of the country, to join fully in the economic recovery and to experience prosperity. We are seeing economic growth in all parts of the country, as is evident in the statistics. There is jobs growth in all parts of the country and unemployment is falling in all regions. That is extremely important for many reasons. However, we must accelerate the recovery in rural areas and ensure that the areas that have not grown as fast as our cities are able to catch up. Improvements in infrastructure are crucial to enabling them to catch up. That includes improvements in transport infrastructure, which are under way with the Gort to Tuam motorway just one example of a major project, and improvements in broadband, to allow premises, businesses and homes to connect to the high speed broadband network.

Currently, just over 50% of premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. We estimate that it will increase to over 75% by the end of 2018 and to between 90% and 100% by 2020-21. Eir has committed to providing high speed broadband to 300,000 premises and it will start on that shortly. In the larger intervention area 550,000 premises have been identified for intervention under the national broadband plan. At present, detailed discussions are taking place around the contracts. They will run until September, approximately, and it is estimated that the companies can put in their final bids at that point. It is a huge contract and we are anxious to ensure we get it right. The Deputy will be aware that there were difficulties and problems in the past with telecommunications contracts, and with such contracts going wrong, so it is important that we get this absolutely right. The money is available to support it and the Government is fully behind it.

We are determined to minimise any delays in providing broadband to all parts of the country. Indeed, at local authority level officers have been appointed to be a single point of contact in respect of broadband, so they can overcome difficulties that in the past and even now could be created by local authorities in providing access to the infrastructure required for the roll-out of broadband.

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