Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 523: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when the metropolitan area network will be enabled in Kilrush, County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27854/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The metropolitan area network in Kilrush, County Clare was taken in charge by e|net, the Management Services Entity for the MANs, in April 2010. The open access network in Kilrush is, therefore, available to any service provider who may wish to reach their customers. e|net has been working closely with the service providers who are fully aware of the availability of all of the metropolitan area networks throughout the country.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 524: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide the most recent data on broadband penetration nationally; the percentage held by different companies or methods; if his Department is involved in this initiative and their reaction to same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28091/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), the National Regulatory Authority for the Irish telecommunications market, publishes quarterly key data reports on the communications market in Ireland. The most recent report, for the period to end March 2010, shows that there are over 1.5m broadband subscribers in Ireland. Over 82% of those subscriptions (1.239m) are residential and ComReg estimate that 77% of Irish homes now have a broadband connection.

The breakdown by platform, and year-on-year increase to the end of March 2010, are set out in the table hereunder (Table 1). The full report is available on ComReg's website at www.comreg.ie/publications.

The overall broadband policy framework is set out in 'Next Generation Broadband – Gateway to a Knowledge Ireland', which I launched in June 2009. The policy paper set out the basic policy framework that investment in broadband, including Next Generation Networks (NGN), is primarily a matter for the market facilitated by an appropriate regulatory regime. The substantial increase in broadband availability, take up and quality over recent years confirms the effectiveness of the current policy.