Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. All schools should get the optimal connectivity possible. We have been working with the Department involved with a view to seeing whether we can do something additional to ensure that schools in particular are connected properly and that they have access to the highest level of connectivity. I do not have the specifics on the case the Deputy identified but what he outlined is not good and needs to be dealt with. He referred to an event in 2017, which was three years ago, when he was told that Ballinasloe would have the fasted broadband anywhere in the world. Clearly, that has not yet happened. The national broadband contract was signed in November 2019, two years after that event.

The intervention area covers 1.1 million people, 540,000 premises and 100,000 businesses and farms, along with 695 schools. I do not know whether National Broadband Ireland, NBI, is the other crowd he referred to, in respect of there being one service provider versus another. The design work, we are told, is complete or ongoing in target townlands in every county, with 137,000 premises surveyed as of 3 December. The first fibre-to-home connections are expected shortly in Carrigaline and will be subject to technical testing and validation prior to a wider release in the area. I am told that to ensure swift network roll-out, NBI is taking on more subcontractors and negotiating revised timelines where possible with all third parties involved in the build. Broadband connection points are a key element of the NBP, providing high-speed broadband.

As of 3 December, some 217 broadband connection points had been installed by NBI and 59 of these are now connected with high-speed broadband through a service provider contract with Vodafone, which is managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development. Each local authority is also playing a critical part in the selection and enablement of these broadband connection points, with a broadband officer appointed in each county to help communities. In addition, school broadband connection points are being provided with high-speed broadband for educational use only, through a service provider contract managed by the Department of Education. To date, 25 schools have been connected with high-speed broadband for educational access. The budget allocated €210 million to the roll-out of the national broadband plan.

As I said earlier, I am interested in accelerating the schools programme and perhaps carrying out a discrete school-based initiative to ensure that we can advance and accelerate the programme in respect of schools. If the Deputy can forward me the details of the specifics of the case he identified, I will follow that up.

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