Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the inadequate broadband connectivity service available in many parts of County Donegal; when he expects the telecommunications infrastructure in the county will be upgraded to provide adequate service for both households and businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40394/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and business in Ireland. This is being achieved through measures designed to accelerate commercial investment and the development of a State-led intervention for non-commercial areas. Since publication of the Plan, investments by the commercial sector have accelerated with commercial operators investing, or committing to invest, approximately €2.5 billion in networks and services. As a consequence, it is expected that at least 1.6m of the 2.3m addresses in Ireland will have access to high speed broadband services provided by the commercial market over the next number of years.

Under EU State Aid Guidelines Member States cannot intervene where commercial investors have plans to roll out services. A comprehensive mapping exercise is underway in my Department, to identify those areas that require a State intervention. An initial list has already been identified and includes 78 areas in County Donegal. I understand that at least one network operator has published a programme to roll out 59 fibre-based broadband networks in County Donegal by July 2016. In addition the recent announcement of a joint venture between ESB and Vodafone includes a proposal to provide high speed broadband in Letterkenny.

The State has previously intervened in the telecoms sector through the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) Programme, by constructing nine networks in County Donegal. MANs networks were built in Ballyshannon, Buncrana, Bundoran, Cardonagh, Donegal Town, Gweedore, Letterkenny, Ballybofey and Stranorlar. These networks are all currently in use by telecoms operators, who are making telecoms services available to businesses and citizens in County Donegal.

As part of the mapping process, a stakeholder consultation was launched in June. 32 submissions have been received and non-commercially sensitive versions of these responses were published by my Department earlier today.

I expect to publish the map shortly. Those accessing this map will be able to identify their own house or premises and see whether it is in the proposed intervention footprint. Where a house or premises is not in the proposed intervention area it means it either currently, or will in the near future, have access to commercial high speed broadband services. The map will be subject to change as new information becomes available or commercial investments are announced in the future.

A further public consultation on a detailed intervention strategy will be launched in mid-2015. My Department is also working closely with the European Commission with a view to obtaining State Aid clearance for the programme.

A detailed procurement process will be undertaken in order to select a potential preferred bidder(s) towards the end of 2015.

This complex and ambitious project is a key priority for Government. It aims to conclusively address current connectivity challenges in Ireland. Our goal is to ensure that quality broadband services are available to all citizens regardless of where they are located.