Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I share the Deputy's interest in the importance of this area. The national broadband plan, NBP, contract was signed with National Broadband Ireland, NBI, in November last 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 over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with 695 schools.

The national broadband plan will ensure that citizens throughout the entire country have access to high-speed broadband services and 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, which 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. The high-speed broadband map, which is available at shows the areas which will be included in the national broadband plan State-led intervention as well as areas targeted by commercial operators.

There are 95,188 premises in Kildare, 15% of which, 13,859 premises, will be provided with high-speed broadband through the State-led intervention. The remaining 81,329 premises are in areas where commercial providers are either delivering or have plans to deliver broadband services. Investment in County Kildare under the national broadband plan will amount to €53 million.

I am advised by NBI that, as of 4 November 2020, almost 122,000 premises across 25 counties have been surveyed. Of these, 2,818 premises have been surveyed in County Kildare, with approximately 1,500 in east Kildare. For this purpose, east Kildare has been interpreted as from Kilcock to Naas to the border with Wicklow.

Surveys have been completed in Killashee, Oughterard, Naas rural, Rathmore, Kill, Kilteel, Carnalway, Gilltown, Ballymore Eustace, Bodenstown, Naas urban, Newtown and Donaghcumper. NBI is now developing network designs to deliver the new fibre-to-the-home network to these premises. Surveys are due to start in Leixlip, Maynooth and Celbridge in the first quarter of 2021. NBI crews have started initial works for the network build in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Cavan, with the first fibre-to-the-home connection expected around December 2020 in Carrigaline.

Further details on specific areas within rural east Kildare are available through the NBI website which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register their interest in being provided with deployment updates.

Broadband connection points, BCPs, are a key element of the national broadband plan, providing high-speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll-out of the fibre-to-the-home network.

As of 4 November, 187 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 for schools. Sixty BCPs around Ireland have now been connected with high-speed broadband. Although no current locations are in east Kildare, new locations are being sourced and can be progressed through the broadband officer in Kildare County Council and the Department of Rural and Community Development.

Rathmore National School and St David's National School will be connected for educational access as part of this initiative by the end of the year. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education and Skills to prioritise other schools with no high-speed broadband for connection 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 putting in place measures to mitigate the impact in as far as possible.

The Covid 19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of good reliable broadband to ensure that citizens throughout 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 to many of the policies envisaged, particularly around increased levels of remote working.

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