Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on the claims that although there are up to 12,000 homes and businesses that cannot access broadband of any kind they are not covered by the national broadband scheme; the provision he will make for these cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3438/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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It is accepted that even after the full roll-out of the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) there will still be a small percentage of premises that will not be capable of receiving broadband services. This is primarily due to technical and other reasons (suitability of a telephone line, distance from an enabled exchange, no line of sight etc.). The European Commission has set aside a portion of the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP) funding for rural broadband initiatives. In this context, my Department is currently considering the detailed design and implementation of a scheme which would address the issue of broadband availability to unserved rural premises outside of the NBS areas.

It is hoped to commence the scheme this year with the identification of premises not capable of receiving broadband. State Aid approval has been granted by the European Commission as part of the overall process of securing the necessary approvals and funding for the scheme.