Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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177. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps his Department will take in conjunction with the broadband task force to address gaps in the service affecting some homes in rural areas in which telephone lines are not running through a fibre cabinet and are therefore experiencing slow connection speeds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1678/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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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. 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 areas where commercial operators will not provide this service. 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. This is the last stage of the procurement process before moving to the final tender stage, which will be followed by the appointment of a preferred bidder(s) and contract signature.

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, prior to the full build and roll-out of the network planned under the National Broadband Plan State intervention. The Taskforce worked with key stakeholders to produce the December 2016 report available on my Department's website, which contains 40 actions to alleviate some of the deficits.

I published the third Taskforce Quarterly Progress Report in November 2017, which demonstrates that good progress has been made in delivering the actions. I plan to publish an Annual Report shortly. These reports show continuing progress and also the sustained level of engagement between actions owners and industry. The Annual Report will also contain a work programme for 2018, with new actions identified that will lead to improvements for consumers across Ireland.

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.