Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

454. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if broadband service will be available to all houses in the Clonlyon, Kilcock County Meath area following upgrade works being carried out in the area. [40548/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In April I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available atwww.broadband.gov.ie.  This map shows the areas targeted by commercial operators to provide high speed broadband services and the areas that will be included in the State Intervention Area. The Map is searchable by eircode.

- The BLUE areas on the Map represent those areas where commercial telecommunications providers are either currently delivering, or have indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services, 

- The AMBER areas on the Map represent the areas that will require State Intervention and are the subject of a procurement process.

The map shows that the townland of Clonlyon, Co Meath  comprises 52 premises and broadband coverage will be realised through a mix of commercial investment and through the State Intervention under the National Broadband Plan (NBP).  Of the 52 premises, 31 premises fall with the State Intervention area while the remaining 21 premises fall within eir's planned rural deployment of 300,000 premises.  Therefore, depending on the eircode of the address the constituent may either be in a BLUE or AMBER area of the High Speed Broadband Map.

Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available from eir at .  Individuals can access this website  to determine the connectivity availability status for their premise using their eircode.  The website also provides a list of retail service providers who offer services using high speed fibre network in the area. 

Those premises within the State Intervention area form part of my Department's ongoing procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network. That procurement process is now at an advanced stage, with “Detailed Solutions” to be submitted to my Department by bidders today 26 September. 

To improve both mobile and broadband services in rural Ireland in advance of the roll-out of the high speed broadband network to be built in the State intervention area, I established a Taskforce to identify immediate solutions to mobile phone and broadband coverage deficits and investigate how better services could be provided to consumers. These solutions will enhance the existing services prior to the full build and rollout of the network planned under the National Broadband Plan State intervention.