Written answers
Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources
Broadband Service Provision
Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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657. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide, in tabular form on a county basis, the total number of premises forecasted to be covered by the national broadband plan’s intervention; the total number of premises forecasted to be covered by commercial high-speed broadband services by the end of 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25872/15]
Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the table. The Deputy should note that this information is based on the map produced by the Department in November 2014 and will be subject to change following assessment of all investment plans by operators.
Existing and Planned Commercial High Speed Broadband: this is the number of premises by county that commercial operators indicated would be able to receive high speed broadband by end 2016. The Department has also received updated information from operators in respect of commercial coverage expected by 2020. The Department is in the process of reviewing all the data provided by operators for 2016 - 2020 with a view to validating coverage plans and revising the map if appropriate.
Number of Premises covered by State Intervention: This is the number of premises by county that will be covered by the proposed intervention strategy and is subject to change following assessment of operator plans.
National Broadband Plan
| County | Existing and planned Commercial High Speed broadband | Number of premises covered by State intervention | Total number of premises |
|---|---|---|---|
| CARLOW | 16,851 | 10,555 | 27,406 |
| CAVAN | 18,175 | 24,197 | 42,372 |
| CLARE | 33,657 | 34,501 | 68,158 |
| CORK | 181,782 | 85,972 | 267,754 |
| DONEGAL | 48,514 | 52,004 | 100,518 |
| DUBLIN | 572,053 | 8,295 | 580,348 |
| GALWAY | 71,275 | 62,540 | 133,815 |
| KERRY | 38,824 | 51,180 | 90,004 |
| KILDARE | 67,791 | 20,536 | 88,327 |
| KILKENNY | 25,317 | 22,455 | 47,772 |
| LAOIS | 22,560 | 16,201 | 38,761 |
| LEITRIM | 8,990 | 13,326 | 22,316 |
| LIMERICK | 63,698 | 33,963 | 97,661 |
| LONGFORD | 10,891 | 11,691 | 22,582 |
| LOUTH | 45,015 | 15,129 | 60,144 |
| MAYO | 33,336 | 50,831 | 84,167 |
| MEATH | 51,384 | 31,171 | 82,555 |
| MONAGHAN | 13,914 | 19,551 | 33,465 |
| OFFALY | 19,587 | 17,130 | 36,717 |
| ROSCOMMON | 14,269 | 24,856 | 39,125 |
| SLIGO | 21,281 | 18,605 | 39,886 |
| TIPPERARY | 43,368 | 41,207 | 84,575 |
| WATERFORD | 43,098 | 17,897 | 60,995 |
| WESTMEATH | 26,563 | 17,814 | 44,377 |
| WEXFORD | 40,202 | 39,308 | 79,510 |
| WICKLOW | 46,250 | 16,574 | 62,824 |
| Grand Totals | 1,578,645 | 757,489 | 2,336,134 |
Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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659. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if the element of the national broadband plan that requires State intervention is likely to reduce significantly following Eircom’s announcement to roll-out fibre broadband to 300,000 premises which had been included in his Department’s national broadband plan, given that Eircom had participated in the national broadband plan mapping exercise within the past year which had agreed that these 300,000 premises were not likely to benefit from commercially-driven broadband investment; and his views on successive announcements by Eircom to deliver fibre to the home over recent months, totalling some 800,000 homes since autumn 2014, when as of June 2015 only about 150 of those homes have actually been connected with fibre by Eircom. [25931/15]
Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The aim of the National Broadband Plan is to ensure that all premises will have access to high speed broadband, whether through commercial investment or a State funded intervention. Last November I published a national high speed coverage map for 2016. The map identifies detailed information on over 50,000 townlands on a county-by-county basis and can be accessed at . The map shows Ireland with two colours BLUE and AMBER. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas that will have access to commercial high speed broadband services of a least 30Mbps. The AMBER area shows the target areas for the State intervention and includes over 700,000 addresses.
New private planned high speed broadband investments, such as those recently announced by eircom, may be added to the national high-speed coverage map, once it is established that these plans are definitive and meet the relevant criteria to deliver high speed broadband service to end users. My Department will thoroughly examine and evaluate any commercial investment announcements prior to altering the current national coverage map. For the moment, and pending finalisation of the necessary evaluation of eircom's announcement, the intervention area on our map will remain unchanged.
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