Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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192. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the progress made on the programme for Government commitment on addressing long-term challenges such as broadband and climate change. [33805/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Government’s National Broadband Plan, which was published in August 2012, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses.  The Programme for 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 has not been fully demonstrated.

A key principle of the NBP is to support and stimulate commercial investment through policy and regulatory measures. Commercial investment since the publication of the NBP has considerably exceeded expectations. To date, the commercial telecommunications sector has invested over €2bn in upgrading and modernising networks which support the provision of high speed broadband and mobile telecoms services.

Approximately 1.3m premises in Ireland can now get high speed broadband and at least one mobile operator is delivering 4G services to over 90% of the population.  It is estimated that up to 70% of premises in Ireland will have access to  commercial high speed broadband services provided by telecommunications operators, while the remaining 30% consisting of over 750,000 premises will fall within the proposed State led intervention under the National Broadband Plan.

The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available atwww.broadband.gov.ieshows the extent of the State Intervention area and provides information on a county by county basis with a breakdown of coverage across the townlands in every county.  Individuals can check whether their premises is in a BLUE or an AMBER area by scrolling through the map online or entering their Eircode.  The Department also has a dedicated mailbox and anyone with a query in relation to the Map should email the Department, quoting their Eircode, to roadband@dccae.gov.ie.

The rollout of services by commercial operators in the BLUE area is being kept under constant review by the Department to ensure that all premises can get access to services, either through commercial investment or the State intervention.

The Department is now in a formal procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network within the State Intervention Area comprising over 750,000 premises, covering 100,000km of road network and 96% of the land area of Ireland.

Intensive dialogue with bidders is continuing and the three bidders have indicated that they are proposing a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution.  Householders and businesses may  get speeds not just of 30 Megabits per second but potentially up to 1000 Megabits per second with businesses potentially availing of symmetrical upload and download speeds.

Earlier this year, before I came into office, the Department announced that it would be June 2017 before contract(s) were awarded under the NBP. The bidders in the process have recently indicated that they may need more time to conclude the procurement process. The timing of each stage of the procurement continues to be dependent on a range of factors including the complexities that may be encountered by the procurement team, and bidders, during the procurement process. Bidders need adequate time to prepare detailed proposals and their final formal bids and get the relevant shareholder and funding approvals at key stages of the process. It is also important to ensure that risks in this multi-million euro procurement are carefully managed. I do not propose to comment any further at this juncture, given that discussions are ongoing in the procurement process. I can assure the Deputy however, that the procurement process is being intensively managed, to ensure an outcome that delivers a future-proofed network that serves homes and businesses across Ireland, for at least 25 years. The Government considers the NBP to be one of the most significant investments in rural Ireland for decades, and one which will transform society, akin to rural electrification in the last century.

In parallel, and in accordance with commitments in the Programme for Government, Minister Humphreys is leading on the establishment of two regional action groups to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract(s) has been awarded.

In July, I established a Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce with Minister Humphreys to address immediate issues in relation to the quality of mobile phone and broadband coverage. I expect the Taskforce to report by the end of this year.

In addition, I recently signed Regulations allowing ComReg to proceed with an early 2017 auction of the 3.6GHz radio spectrum band, to provide an 86% increase in total spectrum available for mobile and fixed wireless services. I have also secured €8m for RTÉ which will allow it to free up the 700 MHz spectrum band.

Through the implementation of the Programme for Government we are committed to increasing the availability of high speed broadband and mobile services, with a view to ensuring that all citizens and businesses can participate fully in a digitally enabled society.

The extent of the long term challenge arising from climate change is well understood by Government. Existing policy is set out in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (2014) which established a high-level policy direction for the adoption and implementation by Government of mitigation and adaptation plans to enable the State to pursue the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050 (known as the ‘national transition objective’). Subsequently, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 established the national transition objective on a statutory basis and in order to facilitate the transition, provided, inter alia, for the development and submission to Government for approval of national mitigation plans and national adaptation frameworks.

Development work on the first mitigation plan and adaptation framework is progressing. Under the 2015 Act, a draft National Mitigation Plan will be made available for public consultation by the end of the year, followed by submission of a final plan to Government for approval by June 2017. The primary objective of the mitigation plan will be to track implementation of measures already underway and identify additional measures in the longer term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and progress the overall national low carbon transition agenda to 2050.

Similarly in relation to adaptation, the 2015 Act provides for the making and submission to the Government of iterative national adaptation frameworks which will specify the national strategy for the application of adaptation measures in different sectors and by local authorities in order to reduce the vulnerability of the State to the negative effects of climate change and to exploit any beneficial opportunities that may arise. Work is progressing in relation to the first adaptation framework, which must be submitted to Government no later than 10 December 2017.

Policy in relation to tackling both the mitigation and adaptation aspects of climate change in Ireland has been in development for a number of years, having regard to EU and international obligations, national policy and the recent legislative provisions referred to earlier. Taken together, these and other measures, including the mainstreaming of climate change considerations into policies and operations across different sectors and the National Dialogue on Climate Change, form part of a long-term strategy to pursue substantial decarbonisation of the energy, transport and built environment sectors and carbon neutrality in the agriculture and land sector. They will also assist our towns and cities to adapt to the future impacts that climate change will bring and ultimately build a level of climate resilience that society will require in the future.