Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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471. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the cost of carrying out the national broadband plan high speed mapping exercise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2312/16]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The development of the High Speed Broadband map under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) was only one aspect of the very detailed intervention strategy under the NBP. The mapping exercise was undertaken by officials within my own Department and its advisors and involved extensive discussion with industry. The stages involved in the mapping exercise comprised: - An information request to all authorised undertakings in July 2013 - A Call for Inputs in June 2014 to assist in the development of the assessment criteria

- Publication of High Speed Broadband Map in November 2014 – further public consultation

- A supplementary information request issued to industry in April 2015

- Consultation on managing the map – October 2015

- Publication of High Speed Broadband Map 2020 in December 2015.

All information gleaned from the various stages of this process was required to be validated before being transferred to an interactive map and colour coded BLUE and AMBER. The BLUE area indicates that commercial servcices will be provided by the end of 2016. Premises in the AMBER area will be included in the State intervention. This process culminated in the production of the High Speed Broadband map 2016 initially and subsequently the High Speed Broadband Map 2020.

The 2020 map which is available at allows all member of the public, be they business or residential , to see whether their premises or home will have access to commercial high speed broadband services or whether they will be included in the Government’s intervention. Citizens can search for their individual premises using their Eircode, or address, or by scrolling through the map, and see whether that premises will be covered by commercial investment or the State intervention. Every townland in Ireland has been mapped, and information on the number of premises in each townland and the percentage that are in commerical (BLUE) and non-commercial (AMBER) areas are provided.

The Map is a critical aspect of European State Aid compliance and the mapping process remains open, in accordance with terms that have been published on my Department's website so that any new developments can be managed.

I do not have precise figures for all elements of the mapping exercise as it impacts on all aspects of the intervention strategy and is integrated with several work streams. I can confirm however that the in-house ICT related cost to the Department to date of producing the map is in the region of € 203,000 including VAT.