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

I will pass on those questions to the Minister, Deputy Ryan. We all understand the importance of the roll-out of broadband throughout the country and I understand the Deputy's frustration. We have all felt similar frustration in our constituencies over the years and we know this Government knows the importance of rolling out the broadband plan.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of good and reliable broadband to ensure citizens right 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 delivery of the national broadband plan will be a key enabler of many of the policies envisaged, particularly around increased levels of remote working. The broadband plan will ensure citizens throughout the entire country will have access to a high-speed broadband service and nobody will be left without such a vital service.

Despite the impact of the pandemic, NBI continues to steadily progress its deployment activities and the current deployment plan forecasts premises passed in all counties within the first two years and more than 90% of premises in the State having access to high-speed broadband within the next four years. As I mentioned, more than 91,000 premises across 20 counties, including Leitrim, have been surveyed to date. Additionally, four school broadband connection points within the area have been installed, with a further two broadband connection points scheduled for installation in September, followed by another eight by year-end.

The Government has committed to seeking to accelerate the roll-out of the national broadband plan. In this regard, the Department continues to engage with NBI to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of this roll-out and establishing the possibility of bringing forward premises currently scheduled for years six and seven to an earlier date. This process of exploring the potential to accelerate roll-out of the network is being undertaken in parallel with measures required to mitigate delays resulting from Covid-19.

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