Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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562. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding Internet access for a person (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39075/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is a Government initiative which aims to deliver high speed broadband to every citizen and business in Ireland. This is being achieved through a combination of accelerated commercial investment by telecoms operators, and a proposed State intervention to provide high speed broadband to those parts of the country where the commercial sector will not invest. Last November I published a national high speed coverage map for 2016. This map is available at . The map shows Ireland with two colours, BLUE and AMBER and was developed based on the most up to date information available at the time of publication. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services by the end of 2016.

The areas marked AMBER represent those areas where the State intends to intervene to ensure those areas will have access to high speed broadband services and includes Ashford, Co Limerick.

I would encourage members of the public to consult both my Department's map and the information being provided by the commercial operators on their respective websites to establish the precise situation regarding their individual premises.

It is anticipated that speeds of at least 30 Mbps will be also delivered through the Government's intervention and the network will be designed to cater for future increased demand from consumers and business.

More generally I can confirm that next generation broadband services have been rolled out to over 48,800 premises to date in Co Limerick with over 14,800 more expected to be served by commercial investment. Approximately 33,900 premises in Limerick will be covered either by further commercial investment or the proposed State intervention.

40 responses were received following the publication of the NBP proposed Intervention Strategy in July last. Non-confidential versions of these submissions have been published since last week and can be accessed at .

Meanwhile, my Department continues to review the technical and financial detail relating to potential new commercial investment proposals with a view to updating the intervention area Map. I expect to publish an updated version of the Map and to proceed to formal procurement before the end of the year.

The Government is determined to ensure that the network is built out as quickly as possible and engagement with industry stakeholders has indicated that this could be achieved within 3-5 years of the contract award.

In this context, the NBP proposes that through the combination of commercial investment and State intervention, 85% of addresses in Ireland will have access to high speed services by 2018 with all addresses passed by 2020.