Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Question 20: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will resolve the lack of broadband provision in the Moheraven area, Aughamore, County Leitrim; if he will make clear the reason persons of this area have been neglected by the national broadband scheme, forcing them to pay for a satellite broadband service which costs €100 to install and €300 per year in subscription fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2537/12]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Ireland's telecommunications market has been liberalised since 1999 and thus the delivery of broadband services is a matter, in the first instance, for the private sector commercial operators. In cases of market failure the Government will intervene, where it is appropriate and possible to do so. The National Broadband Scheme (NBS) represents such an intervention. EU State Aid and competition rules govern how states can intervene in areas where existing service providers operate. Accordingly, the NBS is prohibited from providing a service in served areas where to do so would give rise to an unacceptable level of market distortion. The mapping exercise undertaken by my Department at the time of designing the NBS in 2008, found that broadband services were available in the area referred to in the Deputy's Question and consequently the locality was excluded from the Scheme.

The Rural Broadband Scheme (RBS) was launched last year in recognition of the fact that despite the widespread availability of broadband throughout Ireland, there still remained individual premises that were unable to receive broadband provision, due to technical difficulties such as line of sight issues. This Scheme, which will be rolled out this year, is aimed at making a basic broadband service available to those individual un-served premises in rural non-NBS areas who wish to avail of such services. The combination of private investment and State interventions such as the National and Rural Broadband Schemes means that Ireland is on target to meet the EU Digital Agenda milestone of having a basic broadband service available to all areas by 2013.

The Deputy refers to the cost of satellite connectivity. The technology involved with satellite internet has meant that connectivity has tended to be more expensive than connectivity via other means. However, with technological advances, I am pleased to note that tariffs for satellite connectivity are becoming increasingly competitive with other technologies. The Government accepts that the widespread availability of high speed broadband is a key requirement in delivering future economic and social development. With basic broadband services now widely available across Ireland, the challenge is to accelerate the roll out of high speed services.

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 customer access to every home and business in the State. The Next Generation Broadband Taskforce which I convened earlier this year has an important role to play in this regard. It comprises the CEOs of all of the major telecommunications companies operating in the Irish market, as well as CEOs of some other companies that provide broadband services. The purpose of the Taskforce is to discuss and report on policy issues and proposals in relation to the provision of high speed broadband across Ireland. I expect that the Taskforce will help to identify how best to deliver wider customer access to high-speed broadband generally and thereby assist in delivering on the commitment in the Programme for Government.