Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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157. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans to address the issue of the serious lack of adequate broadband services on Arranmore off the coast of County Donegal; if his attention has been drawn to the negative impact that this is having on the island’s economic development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44671/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure that that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State-led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided.

The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5bn in network upgrades and approximately 1.6m of the 2.3m premises in Ireland are expected to have access to commercial high speed broadband services over the next number of years. In the last month alone, two companies have announced projects to deliver direct fibre connectivity to approximately 500,000 homes and businesses in every county in Ireland. One of these companies has already commenced an extensive rollout of fibre-based services which will be completed by July 2016. These very significant investments represent a step-change in the quality of broadband services available.

Under EU State Aid Guidelines Member States cannot intervene in areas where commercial investors have plans to roll out services.

My Department is currently finalising a national map which will identify those areas that require a State intervention. I expect to publish the map for public consultation next week. 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. As part of the necessary analysis for that important strategy document, I will consider the issues around prioritising particular areas that would be deemed broadband blackspots.

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.