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

The national broadband plan 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 that nobody is left without this vital service. The national broadband plan 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 original 150 Mbps committed to under the contract. The current deployment team forecasts premises passed in all counties within the first two years, and over 90% of premises having access to high-speed broadband within the next four years.

The high-speed broadband map, to which the Deputy referred, is available at broadband.gov.ieand it shows the area in Cork which will be included in the national broadband plan State-led intervention, as well as areas targeted by commercial operators. There are 273,548 premises in Cork, of which 79,424 premises will be covered by high-speed broadband through the State-led intervention. A further 194,124 premises are in areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high-speed broadband services. Government investment in County Cork under the national broadband plan will be of the order of €314 million.

As of 16 November, over 131,000 premises across all counties in the country have been surveyed by NBI. Of this figure, over 16,000 premises have been surveyed to date in County Cork, including in the areas of Carrigaline and Midleton. NBI crews have started initial works with a build in around 4,000 premises in the Carrigaline area, including Fountainstown, Ballinhassig, Monkstown and Upper Rochestown. The first fibre-to-the-home connections are expected next month in Carrigaline, and they will be subject to technical testing and validation prior to wider release of the area. I am advised that, from the end of January, retailers will be able to resell the service and householders in these areas will be able to order high-speed broadband provided via the NBI network. Further details are available on specific areas within Cork on the NBI website, which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register an interest in being provided with deployment updates through that website.

Broadband connection points, BCPs, are also 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. It is anticipated that some 275 sites in rural areas will be installed with broadband in this way by the end of the year, including 75 schools. As of Friday, 13 November, 147 sites and 43 schools have had those connections installed. 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. These national broadband BCPs are located across County Cork, where the public will be able to benefit from the services at Ballindangan community centre, Aghabullogue community centre, Castletownkenneigh community centre, Lisavaird community centre, Whitechurch community centre and the TO Park in Labbamologga. Further infrastructure is being installed by NBI at Bear Island heritage centre, Laharn heritage centre and Ballydaly community hall, and it is anticipated that these sites will be connected in the coming weeks. Further details are available on the NBI website. Clogagh and Ballycroneen national schools will also connected for educational access as part of that initiative. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education and the other schools in the intervention area in Cork.

While substantial progress has been made, the Covid pandemic has had an impact on delivery of the network and the extent of that impact is currently being assessed. We have committed to putting in place measures to mitigate the impact as far as possible.

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