Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 3: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the timescale of the tender selection and implementation process of the national broadband scheme for white areas of the NBS map; the timescale of the tender selection and implementation process of the national broadband scheme for blue areas on the NBS map; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28809/08]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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While the provision of broadband services is, in the first instance, a matter for the private sector and broadband is now widely available in Ireland, there are still some parts of the country where the private sector is unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services. These areas are being addressed by the national broadband scheme, NBS, which will provide broadband services to areas that are currently not served and will ensure that all requests for broadband from those areas not served are met.

Initially, the mapping exercise undertaken as part of the NBS distinguished between areas where a service is currently provided, marked as red areas on the map; areas where no service is currently provided and is unlikely to be provided in the future, white areas; and areas that are not currently served but service providers had indicated that they planned to provide broadband services in those areas in the future, blue areas.

Service providers were given until 30 June 2008 to act on their stated intentions to roll out broadband in the blue areas of the map. As the end of June 2008 has now passed, any blue area where a service provider has failed to roll out services has been changed to white to reflect the fact that no service is available in the area. Any blue area where a service provider now provides a service has been changed to red to reflect the fact that the service is available in the area.

Consequently, the NBS map is now being updated and the next iteration of the map will show areas that are served, red areas and areas where no service is available, white areas. The map will reflect the red and white areas as they stood on 30 June 2008. There will be no blue areas in the next iteration of the map, which will be the final map that will issue with the invitation to tender.

The first phase of the NBS procurement process is now complete. The remaining candidates have been engaged in competitive dialogue with my Department and are developing their proposed solutions to meet my Department's requirements. The dialogue between the remaining candidates and my officials has proven to be very effective with all parties addressing and resolving potential ambiguities in the first invitation to tender documentation. This effort, which has given rise to unanticipated work in advance of the issuing of the final invitation to tender, will minimise the need for negotiations at the contract award stage of the project.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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We have received some new information, which is of benefit. The Minister is now saying that we no longer have blue areas on the map. Until recently, the Minister promised that if people could not get broadband by 1 July, it would be provided to them through the national broadband scheme. The Department drew up a map of the country in which all areas in red had acceptable broadband coverage; blue areas were those where broadband was promised and white areas were those where broadband could not be provided commercially. The Minister is now saying that broadband has either been provided in blue areas by now or not and that all white areas will be provided with broadband in the national broadband scheme. That directly contradicts information I received through a freedom of information request which states that a reasonable timeframe has been promised to broadband service providers who were proposing broadband in the blue areas. Is the Minister saying that the response to my freedom of information request is incorrect?

When can we expect the national broadband scheme to be in place? The Minister has repeatedly stated that it would be in place by 1 July. We are now halfway through that month. There is an ongoing court battle. When is that likely to finish and when will we see the benefits of the scheme?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We intended to have contracts signed by July but that has been delayed for two reasons, one of which is the court challenge, which involves the Department and various parties. As stated in my earlier answer, we wanted to get the contract documents as sharp as possible in advance of signing off on the tender so that it would be easier for the company to roll it out as soon as the contract is signed. The contract will be very clear, determining what are the obligations. Part of that is working out a clear map that identifies the areas that have coverage and those that do not. Those that do not will be in the contract area where the provider must provide a service.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is saying that the decision has been made.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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That decision was always an evolving process because it is an evolving provision. We set the end of June as the deadline to determine the level of service. We did not accept the situation on the basis of the map but went out to validate that the map was accurate. The end of June is the cut-off point decided for the purposes of the tender documents.