Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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289. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the status of the provision of efibre broadband to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17829/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the delivery of the NBP as a matter of priority.  This is being achieved through private investment by commercial telecommunications companies and through a State intervention in areas where commercial investment is not forthcoming. The formal procurement process for the State Intervention commenced in December 2015. The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ieshows the extent of the State intervention area, which is the subject of procurement. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have previously indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services.

The areas marked AMBER on the High Speed Broadband Map represent the target areas for the State intervention . The map provides information on a county by county basis with a breakdown of coverage across the townlands in every county including County Kerry.

Based on information provided by commercial operators, 13% of the townland of Ballyseedy  will be covered by commercial operators while the remaining 87% of  premises will be part of the State intervention.  Members of the public can view whether their premises in County Kerry are in the BLUE or AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode.

According to publicly available information on Eir's website (www.openeir.ie) eFibre is available in the area to enable the provision of high-speed broadband services.

While I cannot compel any operator to provide services to a particular premises, the NBP intervention aims to deliver a State-funded service to those premises which will not be provided with services from the commercial telecoms sector. My Department continues however to actively monitor the deployment plans  in the BLUE area where commercial operators have committed to providing services to ensure that every home and business in the country has access to services, either through the commercial sector, or through the State intervention. I would encourage consumers and business owners  to contact my Department at broadband@dcenr.gov.ie, quoting their address and Eircode, where specific problems arise in relation to provision by commercial operators of High Speed Broadband services in the BLUE area.

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 five responses are being assessed in line with the criteria set down by the Department with a view to shortlisting the qualified bidders to proceed to the next stage of procurement.

The second stage in the procurement process will be a formal invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to shortlisted bidders. 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 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 roll-out 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 roll-out 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. A detailed roll-out plan for the network will be published once contract(s) are in place.

The Programme for a Partnership Government commits also to measures to assist in the roll-out 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 a contract(s) has been awarded.