Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 417: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his commitment to providing next-generation broadband to every home and business here; and the date for completion. [21167/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Under the NewERA proposals in the Programme for Government, there is a commitment to co-invest with the private sector and commercial Semi State sector to provide Next Generation Broadband to every home and business in the State. The Next Generation Broadband Taskforce, which I chair, has an important role in policy, in this regard. I recently convened a meeting of the Taskforce, which comprises the Minister of State with responsibility for NewERA, Fergus O'Dowd, T.D., the CEOs of all of the major telecommunications companies currently operating in the Irish market and CEOs of some Internet Service Provider companies. The purpose of the Taskforce is to discuss the optimal policy environment required to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband across Ireland. The Taskforce will consider issues such as appropriate targets, private sector investment plans, and the role of Government in driving and facilitating investment. I expect that the Taskforce will help to identify the optimal policy to deliver wider customer access to high-speed broadband generally and thereby assist in delivery on the commitment in the Programme for Government.

Nicky McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 419: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if the rural broadband scheme will be extended to Rosemount, County Westmeath; his views on the matter of loss of business due to slow broadband connection speeds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21868/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The Rural Broadband Scheme (RBS) aims to identify the remaining individual premises in rural Ireland, outside of the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) areas that are unable to obtain a broadband service and to provide a basic broadband service to those premises, where requested. As the area referred to in the Deputy's Question is outside the NBS area, premises which cannot avail of a service from a commercial operator can apply under the RBS.

Information in relation to acceptance of applications and the process of qualification under the scheme is available on my Department's website (www.dcenr.ie) or through contacting my Department on lo-call 1850 678100.

The closing date for applying for inclusion in the RBS is Friday, July 29 next.

The Government accepts that the widespread availability of next generation broadband is key to delivering future economic and social development and, under the NewERA proposals in the Programme for Government, there is a commitment to co-invest with the private sector and commercial Semi State sector to provide Next Generation Broadband to every home and business in the State.

I recently convened a meeting of the Next Generation Broadband Taskforce (NGBT), which I chair. The Taskforce comprises the CEOs of all of the major telecommunications companies currently operating in the Irish market and CEOs of some Internet Service Provider companies. Its purpose is to discuss how best to deliver the optimal policy environment and to identify a roadmap for the speedy delivery of high speed broadband across Ireland. The Taskforce will consider issues such as appropriate targets, investment plans, and the role of Government policy and actions in driving and facilitating investment.

I expect that the NGBT will be helpful in terms of identifying the optimal policy position to deliver wider customer access to high-speed broadband.