Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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196. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that hotels in the Killarney area of County Kerry are currently experiencing difficulties accessing high-speed affordable broadband which is now a salient offering for customer satisfaction and a key determinant in rating agencies assessments of Kerry hotels; and his plans to provide fibre optic broadband which is affordable and sufficiently robust to cater for international tourists. [12260/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure 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 €2.5 billion in network upgrades and enhanced services with approximately 1.6 million of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland expected to have access to commercial high speed broadband services over the next two years. These very significant investments represent a step-change in the quality of broadband services available.

Last November I published a national high speed coverage map for 2016. This map is available at . The areas marked BLUE represent those areas that will have access to commercial high speed broadband services by end 2016. Killarney is included in this category with many parts of the town already able to access high-speed broadband services through commercial investment. I understand work is continuing on upgrading services and should be completed in the near future.

The AMBER areas on the map show the target areas for the State intervention.

The map can be checked to establish the precise location of individual premises or residences. Any premises within the Amber area will be included in the State's intervention.

I can assure the Deputy that the National Broadband Plan aims to conclusively deal with connectivity in all parts of Ireland. I am particularly conscious of the importance of connectivity for the tourism sector and the Plan aims to ensure that citizens and businesses have access to reliable high speed broadband regardless of their location.