Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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28. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will respond to the European Commission's recent Digital Scoreboard Report which states that a lack of rural broadband has resulted in Ireland having one of the lowest rates of broadband take-up in Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13114/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The EU Commission’s digital scoreboard report on access to standard broadband services in rural areas includes a table measuring access to broadband over fixed line connections only. The EU Commission reports that 91% of households in rural areas can access broadband in this manner, and on that basis Ireland is ranked 19th of the EU member states compared.

When measured in a technologically neutral manner, including both wired and wireless broadband subscriptions purchased by households, Ireland is however ranked 9th highest for households which subscribe to a broadband service at 83%, of which 65% use a fixed line access path. The overall penetration of 83% in Ireland compares to an EU average of 80%.

The focus is now on fast tracking the roll out of high speed services through the National Broadband Plan (NBP).  The Government’s NBP intervention will ensure the availability of quality future proofed broadband services to all other parts of the country.

This Plan aims to ensure that high speed broadband will be available to all citizens and businesses.  The Plan will deliver on targeted areas by leveraging investment from both private and public sectors.

Over 750,000 premises are the focus of the procurement process, which formally commenced in December 2015 with the publication of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire ('PQQ') and Project Information Memorandum. Five responses were received from prospective bidders to this stage of the competitive procurement process by the deadline of 31 March 2016.

The second stage in the procurement process will be a formal invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to shortlisted bidders, following the assessment of responses to the PQQ stage.  I expect that my Department will move to this stage in the next month.  The third stage of the procurement process involves the issue of final tender documentation which follows the dialogue process.  Following the submission of final tenders by bidders, a winning bidder(s) will be selected for the contract(s) which will comprise one or two lots as set out in the NBP Intervention Strategy. The Department will then enter into formal contract negotiations with the winning bidder(s). It is expected that contract(s) will be awarded by June 2017.

As part of the competitive process, the Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best rollout strategy, in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and/or high demand. This will need to be balanced with the most efficient network rollout plan. A prioritisation programme will be put in place in this regard, in consultation with the Minister for Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht. Once contract(s) are in place, I expect to publish a detailed rollout plan for the network.

The Programme for a Partnership Government commits also to measures to assist in the rollout of the network once a contract is awarded. In this regard, Minister Humphreys will lead on the establishment of county or regional broadband taskforces, working with Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Offices, LEADER Groups and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once contract(s) have been awarded.

In addition to the NBP, improvement in access to digital services in Ireland is also being achieved through digital literacy training, which is provided nationwide under the BenefIT Programme funded by my Department.