Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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101. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the broadband technology that the planned State intervention under the national broadband plan will use; his views on the timeframe to connect all premises to high speed broadband Internet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31786/15]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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The National Broadband Plan proposed Intervention Strategy document, which was published on 15 July last, sets out a series of detailed proposals by Government in respect of the proposed State intervention. It sets out the key elements of the intervention - what services are proposed and how they will be delivered. It outlines various aspects of the proposed intervention including the type of network envisaged, the minimum speeds being demanded, the length of the contract for services, and whether the network should be public or privately owned. The draft Intervention Strategy has been developed following intensive engagement with industry and wider stakeholders.

In addition, the European Commission has set out detailed guidelines on what is required to obtain State Aid approval for Government interventions in the broadband sector. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has followed these guidelines when formulating the proposed intervention strategy. Key among those guidelines is the requirement to observe a strict policy of technology neutrality in designing an intervention programme and in running a procurement process.

Therefore, the Department cannot and will not specify any particular technology platform when going to the market to secure a potential bidder or bidders for the NBP contract. It will be up to bidders to set out clearly in their bid how they propose to meet the standard of services being sought by the Government. However, it is anticipated that any proposals from bidders will have fibre technology as a key element within their solution. It is recognised within industry that fibre is the technology of choice for at least the backhaul part of the network.

The Strategy demonstrates clearly the Government’s commitment to honouring its pledge to deal definitively with the challenge of providing resilient and high-quality broadband connectivity to every premises in the country, irrespective of location.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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102. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the status of the national broadband plan; the level of engagement between his Department and private telecommunications operators with regard to those companies' plans for broadband, particularly in rural locations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31757/15]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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The Minister published the draft Intervention Strategy for public consultation on 15 July 2015 and the draft strategy and relevant expert reports are available on the NBP website . This public consultation closes on the 25^thof this month. Following the consultation process, the Minister plans to move to formal procurement phase towards the end of this year in order to select a preferred bidder or bidders.The physical build of the network is expected to begin in late 2016, and it will take 3-5 years to fully complete – depending on the details of the bid or bids selected.

This complex national infrastructure project will definitively address the long-standing challenge of deploying a resilient and high-quality broadband network, particularly in rural parts of Ireland.

An intrinsic part of the Department's approach to planning and developing the NBP strategy has been to engage with all stakeholders and, in particular, with industry. This engagement has enabled the production of the national high speed broadband coverage map in November last which is currently being updated, again in close collaboration with industry.

Details of meetings with industry and of site visits to particular trials or projects being run by individual operators are provided in the Department's monthly NBP update which is available on the Department's website and which is emailed to all Oireachtas members.

Departmental officials will continue to liaise closely with the commercial operators until such time as the project moves to formal procurement phase.