Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 370: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the provision of broadband in a location (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will investigate the difficulties in this area in connection to the internet. [17869/07]

Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 371: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the provision of broadband in an area (details supplied) in County Cork. [17870/07]

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 372: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the timeframe for the extension of broadband services to those parts of the country that are not at the moment broadband enabled. [17953/07]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 370 to 372, inclusive, together.

The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter for the companies operating in a fully liberalised market, regulated, where appropriate, by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. The role of the Government is to implement regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of high quality telecommunications services, by competing private sector service providers.

It continues to be a priority of the Government that there will be broadband coverage across the entire country. In that regard my Department has undertaken initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage. These include providing grant aid under the recently concluded Group Broadband Scheme and investment in Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) in over 120 towns and cities under the Regional Broadband Programme.

Despite Government investment in broadband in the regions through the Regional Broadband Programme, there are still some parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband connectivity. The procurement process for the Government's new National Broadband Scheme (NBS) was launched on the 2 May 2007. This scheme will provide broadband services to the areas of Ireland that are currently unserved and ensure that every reasonable request for broadband in these unserved areas is met. The estimated timescale for the award of the NBS contract is December 2007, with rollout of the services due to begin as soon as possible thereafter, subject to agreement with the chosen Service Provider.