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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 203 to 205, inclusive, together.

The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) will ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location.  The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector so that to date approximately 1.5m or 65% of the 2.3m premises in Ireland can get high speed broadband and this footprint is expanding. 

In April, I signed a Commitment Agreement with eir in relation to its plans to provide broadband to an additional 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis. My Department will be monitoring this rollout to ensure that eir meets its obligations under the Agreement. A copy of the Agreement is available on my Department's website www.dccae.gov.ie. Whilst the full programme of work is due to be completed by the end of 2018, more precise information on the timeframe for rollout is available from eir’s website on

I also published an updated High Speed Broadband Map in April which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. The updated Map shows the following categories of areas for delivery of broadband:

- The BLUE areas 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 High Speed Broadband Map represent the areas that will require State Intervention and are the subject of the current procurement process.

- LIGHT BLUE premises are part of eir’s 300k rural rollout.

I will outline below the distribution of premises into each category in the 5 townlands in question. Individuals can themselves check whether their premises is in a BLUE, LIGHT BLUE or AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their eircode at www.broadband.gov.ie.

Townland: Piercetown - Total Premises: 26 Premises Covered:

- 85% (22) AMBER

- 8% (2) BLUE

- 8% (2) LIGHT BLUE

Townland: Fordstown - Total Premises: 38 Premises Covered:

- 5% (2) AMBER

- 0% (0) BLUE

- 95% (36) LIGHT BLUE

Townland: Pluckstown - Total Premises: 22 Premises Covered:

- 27% (6) AMBER

- 73% (16) BLUE

- 0% (0) LIGHT BLUE

Townland: Grennanstown - Total Premises: 34 Premises Covered:

- 65% (22) AMBER

- 35% (12) BLUE

- 0% (0) LIGHT BLUE

Townland: Causestown - Total Premises: 25 Premises Covered:

- 12% (3) AMBER

- 88% (22) BLUE

- 0% (0) LIGHT BLUE

My Department is engaged in an on-going procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out the new high speed broadband network for the State led intervention. A significant milestone in that process was reached in September with the submission of "Detailed Solutions" by two bidders. This is the last stage before receipt of final tenders and progression to the appointment of a preferred bidder(s).

To improve both mobile and broadband services in rural Ireland in advance of the rollout of the high speed broadband network to be built in the State intervention area I established, in July 2016, a Taskforce to identify solutions which can be implemented in the short, medium and long term to alleviate mobile phone and broadband coverage deficits, to identify priority areas for rollout 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 NBP State led intervention.

Under this Taskforce, engagement between telecommunications operators and local authorities through the Broadband Officers is continuing to strengthen.  These Broadband Officers are acting as single points of contact in local authorities for their communities.  The appointment of these officers is already reaping rewards in terms of ensuring a much greater degree of consistency in engagements with operators and clearing obstacles to developing infrastructure.  There is a link to a list of these local Broadband Officers on my Department's website.