Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

The national broadband plan, NBP, contract was signed with National Broadband Ireland, NBI, in November 2019 to roll out a high-speed and future-proofed broadband network within the intervention area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in nearly 540,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms and 695 schools. The national broadband plan will ensure that citizens throughout the entire country have access to high-speed broadband services and that nobody is left without this vital service. The NBP network will offer users a high-speed broadband service with a minimum download speed of 500 Mbps from the outset. I should point out that this represents an increase from the 150 Mbps committed to under the contract. The current deployment plan forecasts premises passed in all counties within the first two years and over 90% of premises in the State having access to high-speed broadband within the next four years. NBI has made steady progress to date, with design work complete or ongoing in target townlands across 20 counties, including Leitrim, with over 91,000 premises surveyed to date. This survey work is feeding into detailed designs for each deployment area. Laying fibre should start shortly, with the first fibre-to-home connection expected around December 2020 in Carrigaline, County Cork. NBI provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register an interest in being provided with deployment updates through its website, www.nbi.ie.

Broadband connection points, BCPs, are a key element of the NBP, providing high-speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll-out of the fibre-to-home network. Approximately 300 sites in rural areas were identified for connection by the end of 2020, including 75 schools. Over 100 broadband connection point sites have been installed by NBI and the high-speed broadband service will be switched on in these locations through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly available sites and by the Department of Education and Skills for schools. Four schools and four BCPs within the areas referred to by the Deputy have been installed by NBI to date, with a further two BCPs scheduled to be installed in September followed by another eight by the end of the year. I understand that the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment continues to work with the Department of Education and Skills to prioritise the remaining schools to be connected over the term of the NBP. While substantial progress has been made to date, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of the fibre network. The extent of this impact is currently being assessed and NBI has committed to put in place measures to mitigate the impact as far as possible. The Covid-19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of good reliable broadband to ensure citizens across Ireland can avail of remote working, education and other essential online facilities.

This is reflected in the commitments in the programme for Government where the delivery of the national broadband plan will be a key enabler to many of the policies envisaged, particularly around increased levels of remote working.

The programme for Government commits to seeking the accelerated roll-out of the national broadband plan and in this regard my Department continues to engage with National Broadband Ireland, NBI, to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of this roll-out to establish the possibility of bringing forward premises currently scheduled in years six and seven of the current plan to an earlier date. Exploring the potential to accelerate the network roll-out is being undertaken in parallel with the measures required to mitigate delays arising as a result of Covid-19.

Bringing connectivity to rural Ireland is central to promoting regional development and the broadband connection points are an important part of that process.

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