Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My thanks to Deputy Ó Murchú for raising this issue. As the Deputy rightly said, I am taking this for the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan, this afternoon.

The national broadband plan contract was signed with National Broadband Ireland in November 2019 to roll out a high-speed and future-proof broadband network within the intervention area. The area covers 1.1 million people living and working in more than 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms as well as 695 schools. Despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, National Broadband Ireland has made steady progress on initial works. I am advised by National Broadband Ireland that, as of 11 February this year, more than 174,000 premises across 26 counties have been surveyed. This is ahead of schedule.

The next step is for National Broadband Ireland to develop a network design to deliver the new fibre-to-the-home network to these premises. Substantial design work is under way. The first fibre-to-the-home connections are in Carrigaline, County Cork and Cavan. This project will be subject to technical testing and validation prior to a wider release to the area. Since 25 January, retailers have been able to resell the service. Householders in these areas will be able to order high-speed broadband provided via the NBI network. The next areas in which connections will be available are Galway and Limerick. Further details on specific areas are available through the NBI website.

NBI provides the facility for the person responsible for any premises within the intervention area to register interest in being provided with deployment updates. Individuals who register with this facility will receive regular updates on progress by NBI on delivering the network and specific updates related to their premises when works are due to commence.

Broadband connection points are a key element of the national broadband plan to provide high-speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll-out of the fibre-to-the-home network. As of 11 February 2021, some 268 broadband connection point sites have been installed by NBI. 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.

An acceleration of the schools aspect of the project was announced in December. It will see 679 primary schools connected to high-speed broadband by 2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026.

While substantial progress has been made to date, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of the fibre network, resulting in delays to delivery of aspects of the programme of a number of months. The extent of this impact is currently being assessed and NBI has committed to putting in place measures to mitigate the impact insofar as is possible. The Covid-19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of good, reliable broadband to ensure that 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 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 programme for Government commits to seek to accelerate the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan. In this regard, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications Networks continues to engage with NBI to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of this roll-out, in particular to establish the possibility of bringing forward premises currently scheduled for years 6 and 7 of the current plan to an earlier date. NBI has now established a dedicated team to investigate acceleration of the roll-out from its current contracted schedule of seven years. 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, which must be the priority at this juncture.

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