Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 510: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if, in view of his commitment to providing universal broadband access to all, he will commit to providing a broadband connection to a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36703/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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In designing the National Broadband Scheme (NBS), which was approved by the EU Commission, it was necessary to strike a balance between reaching as many unserved areas as possible and minimising the impact of the scheme on businesses already providing broadband services in rural areas, thereby minimising market distortion in accordance with EU State Aid and competition rules.

Accordingly, a small number of premises in areas not covered by the NBS will still not be capable of receiving broadband services. This is primarily due to technical difficulties and other reasons (suitability of a telephone line, distance from an enabled exchange, no line of sight etc).

Broadband services are provided by private service providers over various platforms including DSL (i.e over the telephone lines), fixed wireless, mobile, cable, satellite and fibre.

Details of broadband availability from service providers together with the availability of broadband services in specific areas, including areas in County Cork are available at www.broadband.gov.ie. I would add that information contained on this website is provided by the service providers.

The widespread acceptance of the benefits of broadband has motivated the EU Commission to set aside a portion of European Economic Recovery Package (EERP) funding for rural broadband initiatives.

I am also considering how the provision of broadband services to unserved rural premises can be achieved through an appropriate intervention under the European Economic Recovery Package (EERP). My Department is currently considering options for the design of such a scheme. It is hoped to commence this scheme in 2010 and conclude it in 2012. A critical step is to apply and secure State Aid clearance from the European Commission. Discussions with the European Commission on this have commenced.