Dáil debates

Wednesday, 24 January 2018

Topical Issue Debate

Broadband Service Provision

1:15 pm

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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I have raised this issue of broadband with successive Ministers. I note the current Minister has an interest in this. He is trying to advance it but progress has been very slow in this regard.

The national broadband plan was first published by the then Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Pat Rabbitte, in 2012. It is now 2018 and there has been little progress on the broadband plan itself. There is the scheme being rolled out by Eir to capture 288,000 households but in the midlands, there are significant deficits in broadband coverage. In Laois, for example, there are 12,700 households in the amber area that are not being covered under the Eir scheme. In Offaly, there are 12,420 and in Westmeath, there are a further 12,000 plus. Putting all that together, more than 37,000 households in those three midlands counties are in the amber area that will not be covered under the Eir scheme and must wait for the national broadband plan.

My party has raised this time and time again and I have raised my concerns about the route the Government is taking with it. Many, regardless of where they stand on this issue, would privately agree with some of the issues that I have been raising in this regard.

The procurement process was supposed to happen in a fairly efficient manner. In the programme for Government, in which the Government committed to it, states that the Government "will also provide additional exchequer capital, if needed, to deliver on our commitment to bring next generation broadband to every house and business in the country [including Laois, Offaly, Westmeath] by 2020". The date by which we have to get this off the blocks is one year and 11 months away.

The Government further states in the programme for Government that the tender process for awarding the contract is targeted for June 2017. I understand the best-case scenario is we might see it this year. I hope we do. I hope this happens this year.

It is a most serious issue. The areas affected in Laois include: Coolnabacky in Timahoe, the electoral division of Luggacurren, Graiguecullen, Kilcruise, Spink - huge areas out there - Garrymore, Clonaghadoo and Geashill on the Laois-Offaly border, Fisherstown on the canal in the north of the county, Rosenallis and Ballaghmore. Many of those who cannot get broadband are within a stone's throw of the service being provided and they can see Eir rolling out the service.

I am not one to stop progress or to come in just to have a go for the sake of it. I welcome the progress that has been made in Laois and other counties with the Eir scheme. Constituents say they are getting the service and my party welcomes that. I welcome that a total of 5,063 households or premises in Laois will get broadband under the Eir scheme but there are still 12,721 left that will not. I reiterate that in Offaly and Westmeath, there are 12,420 and 12,019 householders, respectively, who will not get it under the Eir scheme and will have to wait for the national broadband scheme.

This is affecting jobs, farmers, students and small businesses. I have dealt with countless cases of people coming to me who are trying to run small businesses in rural areas.

We must try to get this moving this year. It must be prioritised. We talk about rural development. There will be no rural development if we do not have the infrastructure.

1:20 pm

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I acknowledge that the procurement process that was entered into long before my time as Minister is a very complex process. Knowing what I know today, would I have gone down this road if I were Minister? I do not think so. However, we are where we are.

I will explicitly put on the record that I am working might and main to deliver broadband to every single home and premises throughout Ireland. I will not rest until every single premises the length and breadth of this country has access to high-speed broadband. As the Deputy knows, as a rural Deputy I am acutely aware of the frustration and anger that is felt by people who are so close to broadband but cannot get it - people who need it for their businesses, for education purposes or just to be able to do the day-to-day things in life. This is why, as a rural Deputy, I am determined to ensure we put pressure on to ensure this happens as quickly as possible. I give a commitment to the House that not one day later than is absolutely necessary will every single person in this country get access to high-speed broadband. These families across rural Ireland and their businesses are my focus and I am personally committed to deliver broadband to every single door under the national broadband plan. We are now in the final stages of this procurement process. The national broadband plan is a Government priority and will deliver high-speed broadband to every single citizen and business throughout this country. Our ambition is to achieve 100% coverage of high-speed broadband across Ireland through a combination of accelerated investment by the commercial telecoms companies - they are spending approximately €2 million a day on this - and a State intervention for those parts of the country where there is no certainty that commercial operators will provide a service. The Government's national broadband plan has been very successful in encouraging increased levels of investment by the telecoms sector. When I was appointed Minister just 19 months ago, 52% of premises in Ireland had access to high-speed broadband. Today that figure is over 71%, and by the end of this year it will be 77%. Every single week 300 farms are getting access to up to 1,000 Mbps high-speed broadband. With commercial investment and the Government's national broadband plan, this will rise to more than 90% of premises having access to high-speed broadband by 2020.

Regarding County Laois, my Department's high-speed broadband map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie, details where commercial operators will provide a high-speed broadband service and where State intervention will be required. This map has identified approximately 39,000 premises in Laois, of which more than 26,400 will receive high-speed broadband from the commercial sector. This includes 5,200 premises that will be covered by Eir's planned deployment. The remaining 12,600 premises will be covered by the State intervention. Deputy Stanley is right that there are thousands of rural premises right across Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Roscommon and Galway that need access to high-speed broadband, but this is happening at present. We have seen that the town of Portarlington, Ballybrittas and Crettyard have already got high-speed broadband through the Eir intervention. Portlaoise, Durrow, Mountrath, Rathdowney, Ballylynan, Ballickmoyler, Ballyroan, Abbeyleix, Mountmellick, Borris-in-Ossory, Rosenallis, the Heath, Arless, Ballinakill, Ballintubbert, Ballyfin and Cullahill will have 1,000 Mbps high-speed broadband by the end of this year. The fastest possible broadband available anywhere in the world will be available in these villages and the vast majority of villages across rural Ireland. My determination is to build on that network to provide hot desks in the short term in these communities in order that people do not have to commute to the bigger towns and cities and, by 2020, to see access to high-speed broadband provided to the vast bulk of rural Ireland outside their door.

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. What he did not tell me is "when". I acknowledge that some places are benefitting under the Eir intervention. I have checked the list, and 5,063 premises or households in the areas the Minister mentioned will benefit. One can see them on the map that was produced with the scheme. That is all welcome. A concern I have about this - I have raised it with the Minister previously, and he might give me an update on it - is the Eir situation. If it services a group of houses or a village on a route and a provider comes in to provide the service beyond that, will that be an obstruction to another company being able to roll out broadband further up the road? The Minister might give me an up-to-date reply on that.

Regarding the commuters, out of a relatively small workforce in Laois, between 11,000 and 12,000 people drive out of the county every day to work. The Minister beside Deputy Naughten, Deputy Ross, is doing his piece with the widening of the M6 and M7 to cater for this, but we need to get some of these people working in the county. I have met directly people who have small businesses and self-employed people who could work in the county. One woman in the eastern side of the county told me she has three employees and they all go to Dublin every day. The only reason they go to Dublin is its infrastructure. If they had the infrastructure in the area where they live, she and her three employees could happily work from a premises there. They do not need a large premises; they work in the IT sector. The county council would get a little revenue from rates paid by her, she would be working locally, the local community and local shops would benefit and we would all benefit from that. That is the kind of thing one comes across: students who cannot access broadband to do homework, etc. I ask the Minister to tell me roughly when this procurement process will be closed. I also heard what he said about what he would do if he were starting out again, that he might not have gone down the route that was taken with the procurement process. He might give me a brief explanation as to what he meant by that.

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Regarding the procurement process, a particular approach has been taken. The decision was taken long before my time as Minister and it is a very complex procurement process, but it is a 25-year contract, and people need to be aware of that. It is not just for this decade, but also for the decades to come. A minimum of 5,200 premises in County Laois will get high-speed broadband under the Eir build-out. At present, Eir is looking at some anomalies to see whether it can provide broadband to local community centres and schools that may not have been included in the 300,000 build-out. Laois County Council and all the other local authorities in the midlands have fed back into that process. We are working with both wireless and mobile operators to exploit the fibre that has been built out and that is being built out across the country to provide people with a broadband solution in the short term. I know one company to which we have allocated broadband spectrum that expects to cover 85% of the country with broadband wireless services by 2019. We are also looking at providing hot desks in those towns and villages that I named in order that the woman the Deputy spoke about, along with her three employees, will be able to work from a local community building or local enterprise centre, rather than having to commute to Dublin. We are also working with the local authorities to identify mobile phone and mobile data black spots to see how we can resolve them and put the infrastructure in place in the short term.

Regarding the Deputy's question about Eir and the build-out, because Eir is an incumbent, that allows for the build-out to continue beyond the Eir network. This is all part of the complex procurement process we have been going through over this period. It will come to a completion this year and we will continue the momentum that we have seen to date in the delivery of high-speed broadband to 300 farms a week. That momentum will continue until every single farm, home and premises in Ireland has access to high-speed broadband.