David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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209. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his attention has been drawn to the lack of fibre broadband connection for a school (details supplied); when he expects the school to be connected to the fibre broadband system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52107/17]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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214. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the timeframe for connection to a new fibre line for broadband for a school (details supplied); the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52143/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 209 and 214 together.

The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to 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 today over 67% of the 2.3m premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband and this is set to increase to 77% (1.8m premises) by the end of 2018 and to 90% (2.1m premises) by the end of 2020. 

In April I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at www.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 under the National Broadband Plan (NBP).

The Map is colour coded and searchable by address/eircode:

- The  AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led Intervention under the NBP and are the subject of an ongoing procurement process. 

- The BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services. 

- The Light BLUE areas represent eir's commercial rural deployment plans to roll-out high speed broadband to 300,000 premises by the end of 2018 as part of an Agreement signed with me in April.

When the Map was updated in April, 84,500 premises were moved from BLUE to AMBER. This was done because commercial operator plans in those areas had not materialised. The school referenced by the Deputies was among the number moved from BLUE to AMBER. As a result, a high speed broadband service will be delivered to the school under the NBP State Intervention.

My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area. That procurement process is now at an advanced stage.  “Detailed Solutions” submitted by two bidders on 26th September are being evaluated by the NBP specialist team. The next stage in the procurement process is the receipt of final tenders followed by the appointment of a preferred bidder(s) and contract signature.  

I recognise the importance of availability of high speed connectivity for all premises in Ireland and the frustration for communities, schools and businesses that do not currently have access to this level of connectivity. Delivering connectivity to the 542,000 premises (including 437 schools)  that fall within the State led intervention under the NBP remains a Government priority and my Department will engage with the winning bidder(s) to ensure the most efficient deployment as part of the contract.  

In the interim, practical initiatives will continue to be addressed through the work of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce to address obstacles and improve connectivity in respect of existing and future mobile phone and broadband services.

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.