Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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1121. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when a reasonable standard of broadband will be available in Fennagh, County Carlow. [21979/15]

Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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1122. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when a reasonable standard of broadband will be available in the Tinnegarney-Wells area, Bagenalstown, County Carlow. [21980/15]

Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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1145. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when a reasonable standard broadband service will be available in Ballymurphy, Tullow, County Carlow. [22297/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1121, 1122 and 1145 together.

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 and includes Bagenalstown, Co Carlow.

The AMBER area shows the target areas for the State intervention and includes Feenagh, Tinnegarney, Wells and Ballymurphy Co Carlow. All premises within the AMBER areas will be included in the State's intervention. Last week Eircom announced an investment that may address a further 300,000 premises with fibre-to-the-premises technology. My Department will be rigorously examining the assurances from Eircom in relation to these new plans, which is a requirement for all operators, and will review how this impacts the proposed intervention area.

More generally I can confirm that next generation broadband services have been rolled out to 14,198 premises to date in Co Carlow with a further 2,653 expected to be served over the next 18 months. The remaining 10,555 premises in Co Carlow will be covered by commercial investment or will be the target for the proposed State intervention under the National Broadband Plan.

Intensive design and planning work is underway in my Department to produce a detailed intervention strategy for the AMBER area. Following a public consultation process on the draft Intervention Strategy this summer, I hope to move to formal procurement phase towards the end of this year in order to select a preferred bidder or bidders.

I expect the physical build of the network to begin in late 2016, and it will take between three and five years to fully complete – depending on the details of the bid or bids selected.

This complex and ambitious project is a key priority for Government and aims to conclusively address current broadband connectivity issues in mainly rural parts of the country.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1123. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding broadband upgrade provisions at a location (details supplied) in County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22086/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1124. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if, as part of the broadband roll-out strategy, areas due for upgrades will be ensured basic broadband access in the interim. [22087/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1123 and 1124 together.

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 and includes Hackballscross, Co Louth.

The AMBER area shows the target areas for the State intervention. All premises within the AMBER areas will be included in the State's intervention. Last week Eircom announced an investment that may address a further 300,000 premises with fibre-to-the-premises technology. My Department will be rigorously examining the assurances from Eircom in relation to these new plans, which is a requirement for all operators, and will review how this impacts the proposed intervention area.

More generally I can confirm that next generation broadband services have been rolled out to 43,963 premises to date in Co Louth with a further 1,052 expected to be served over the next 18 months. The remaining 15,129 premises in Co Louth will be covered by commercial investment or be the target for the proposed State intervention under the National Broadband Plan.

Intensive design and planning work is underway in my Department to produce a detailed intervention strategy for the AMBER area. Following a public consultation process on the draft Intervention Strategy this summer, I hope to move to formal procurement phase towards the end of this year in order to select a preferred bidder or bidders.

I expect the physical build of the network to begin in late 2016, and it will take between three and five years to fully complete – depending on the details of the bid or bids selected.

This complex and ambitious project is a key priority for Government and aims to conclusively address current broadband connectivity issues in mainly rural parts of the country.