Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, who is speaking in place of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. He is somewhat of a jack of all trades tonight and has spoken on social housing, Irish Water and, now, broadband. It is not an enviable task. I welcome him to the House. I have discussed this issue in the Dáil in recent weeks. We are all aware of how critical high-speed broadband is to our daily lives. This need has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent lockdowns.

I will highlight the failure of Eir and National Broadband Ireland, NBI, to deliver in parts of my constituency. The people I represent are extremely disappointed with the customer service Eir is providing and with its approach to the roll-out of the national broadband plan. Stories of people being left in a queue or on hold for hours on end are the norm rather than the exception. Eir appeared before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks last week to explain and excuse its poor customer care performance. It did not cover itself in glory on that occasion.

I will not provide local examples because I know the Minister of State will be well aware of this great crisis. We expect people to work from home, study from home and run businesses from home. They simply cannot do this with the service being provided. Is Eir willing to fill the gaps in intervention areas to which it was providing fibre broadband before discontinuing such provision? I know many people who are not connected but whose neighbours across the road are connected. This causes much frustration.

My office is regularly contacted with regard to Eir and NBI. People often seek updates in respect of postcodes in the intervention area. People are requesting updates and wondering when they will be connected. They come to my office because they have been disregarded by Eir and other providers or because they cannot get through to Eir. This, in itself, is a problem. Such people receive generic responses stating the number of areas that have been surveyed. What people really want is a timeline as to when they will be connected. Would it be possible for people to receive quarterly updates in respect of their areas? There is surely a more effective way to communicate with people.

I know the Minister of State will say that this is a matter for the provider and for Eir but, on behalf of my constituents, I plead with him to put pressure on Eir to provide a better service. Two weeks ago, Peter Hendrick, CEO of National Broadband Ireland, said that, while Covid-19 has presented many challenges, the roll-out of the broadband plan was on schedule. This is very welcome. When the full roll-out is completed over the next three years or so, that will also be very welcome. The crux of the matter, however, is not whether a customer will be connected, because ultimately everyone will be. The issue is when that will happen. Clarity on the timing is key.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan for consistently raising issues in respect of the national broadband plan on behalf of his constituents. The national broadband plan contract was signed with National Broadband Ireland in November 2019 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 the 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.

The current deployment plan forecasts premises passed in all counties within the first two years and over 90% of premises in the State having access to high-speed broadband within the next four years. The high-speed broadband map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ieshows the areas which will be included in the national broadband plan State-led intervention, as well as areas targeted by commercial operators.

Design work is complete or ongoing in target townlands in every county in Ireland, with over 136,000 premises surveyed as of 23 November. This survey work is feeding into detailed designs for each deployment area, and build work has started in rural parts of Cork, Limerick, Cavan and Galway. The first connections are expected shortly in Carrigaline, County Cork. These will be subject to technical testing and validation prior to a wider release in the area.

While substantial progress has been made to date, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of the fibre network as a result of restrictions imposed on travel and social distancing. The Minister's Department is monitoring the situation closely and National Broadband Ireland has committed to putting in place measures to mitigate these impacts as much as possible. The extent of the impact is currently being assessed.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of reliable broadband to ensure that citizens in rural Ireland can have the high-speed connectivity required to facilitate remote working, education, social interaction and online shopping. This is reflected in the programme for Government, as delivery of the national broadband plan will be a key enabler of many of the policies envisaged, particularly those around increased levels of remote working.

The programme for Government specifically commits to seek to accelerate the roll-out of the national broadband plan. In this regard, the Minister's Department continues to engage with National Broadband Ireland to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of this roll-out to establish the possibility of bringing forward premises which are currently scheduled for the sixth and seventh years of the current plan to an earlier date. As part of that work, National Broadband Ireland is engaging with the ESB to assess the potential to utilise the ESB network for certain areas. The potential to accelerate the network roll-out is being explored in parallel with the measures required to mitigate delays arising as a result of Covid-19.

Broadband connection points are a key element of the national broadband plan. These provide high-speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll-out of the fibre-to-the-home network. As at 20 November, some 201 broadband connection point sites have been installed by National Broadband Ireland, 59 of which are now connected to high-speed broadband services through a service provider contract with Vodafone which is managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly available sites. In addition, primary schools are also being provided with high-speed broadband, for educational use only, through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Education. To date, 22 schools have been connected with high-speed broadband for educational purposes.

I am aware that concerns have been raised by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks regarding the level of information available on the deployment of the NBI network. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has advised me that National Broadband Ireland is working to provide more detail on the deployment programme on its website, with rolling updates on the network build.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the fact that the national broadband plan is being accelerated. I acknowledge that but it is ironic that the Minister of State's four or five pages of a response uses the same kind of language as Eir and other providers use when our constituency offices contact them. I welcome the roll-out of the broadband connection points. My own constituency is benefiting in that regard as Whitechurch will be getting one. The real issue I need to hammer home is that people require access to information. I welcome the last part of the Minister of State's speech in which he mentions that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has advised him that NBI is working to provide more detail on the deployment programme on its website. I ask the Minister of State to emphasise to the Minister how important that is and to tell him that the sooner that can be done in the new year, the better it will be as regards giving people comfort as they may then have some indication of when broadband is to come to their town or village.

As public representatives, we are all aware of how many of these large semi-State and private companies operate. When I was on Cork County Council, the various departments, such as those for roads, engineering and water services, operated under a programme of works. It is the same in many other local authorities across the country. A programme of works can be deviated from, changed or revised. There is nothing wrong with that, but at least the programme is there.

In the case of the organisations of which I am speaking there is a total absence of information. The responses to public representatives have been appalling and the responses to customers the length and breadth of the country are infuriating.

I call on the Minister of State to relay my sentiments to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan. Most important, I appeal to the Minister of State to place a requirement on Eir and all providers involved in the roll-out to supply proper coherent information to all of us, customers and public representatives alike. They should leave out the jargon and provide even indicative timelines for the provision of broadband services in the different areas.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy O'Sullivan again for raising this issue and for the points he clearly makes regarding it. I share his frustration in respect of the providers and the issue of access to information as well as genuine customer service, which is a major frustration with people. I do not want to put a tooth in it: that is fully reflective of the situation on the ground. I believe the joint Oireachtas committee shone a light into this recently. We have a great deal of work to do to respond to that issue. It is something I get representations on every day in my constituency.

Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of good reliable broadband to ensure citizens throughout Ireland can avail of remote working, education and other essential online facilities. This is reflected in the commitments in the programme for Government. The delivery of the national broadband plan will be key to enable many of the policies envisaged, especially around increased levels of remote working. The national broadband plan will ensure citizens throughout the entire country will have access to high-speed broadband services. It will ensure no one is left without this vital service.

Despite the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, National Broadband Ireland continues to make steady progress on its deployment activities. As I mentioned before, over 136,000 premises across all counties have been surveyed to date. A total of 201 broadband connection points and schools have had connections installed by National Broadband Ireland. That is genuine progress.

The Government has committed to seek to accelerate the roll-out of the national broadband plan. In this regard, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications continues to engage with National Broadband Ireland to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of the roll-out.

I will raise the issues put forward by Deputy O'Sullivan in respect of broadband and access to information with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and reaffirm the views on the urgency of this for everyone in the House, including Deputy O’Sullivan, in terms of accelerating the roll-out of broadband. I fully appreciate that it is a key issue.