Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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1022. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the position regarding the provision of broadband services with speeds of at least 20 Mbps in an area (details supplied); the timeline for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24879/18]

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.  The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector. Today, 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. By 2020, 9 out of 10 premises will have access to a high speed broadband connection. This is being achieved via a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention.

In April 2017 I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at .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. 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 rollout high speed broadband to 300,000 premises as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with me in April 2017.

There are approximately 51 premises in the townland of Castlebanny. 45 (88%) fall within the AMBER area and will be served under the State led Intervention. 5 (10%) premises are in a BLUE area and will be served by commercial providers, while 1 (2%) is LIGHT BLUE and falls to be served by eir's planned rural deployment. Information on specific categories of premises can be accessed on my Department’s website by entering the relevant eircode into the Map.

My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area. That procurement process is now in its final stages.

In April 2017, I signed a Commitment Agreement with eir in relation to its plans to provide high speed broadband to 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis. Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available at. A copy of the Commitment Agreement is available on my Department’s website www.dccae.gov.ie.

Quarterly updates on eir's rural deployment are published on this website. Figures for Q1 2018 are now available.

Data for Q1 2018 recently submitted by eir to my Department indicates that the company passed some 145,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment. Eir has signalled that there would be likely knock-on effects to the 2018 milestone targets due to the severe weather impacts of both storms Ophelia and Emma. I have met with the senior management in eir and expressed to them the importance of implementing measures to catch up with milestone targets as a priority.

For those premises currently awaiting access to high speed broadband, 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. The Department of Rural and Community Development maintain a list of Broadband Officers, a link to which is available on my Department's website at

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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1025. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of premises that completed each of the high level design and detailed design milestones in the eir contract by the end of quarter 1, 2018 compared to the target number set out for this date in the contract; the details of those whose design is completed between FTTH, eVDSL and CVDSL; the number of these premises that were included in the original contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25046/18]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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1026. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the latest date provided by eir for the completion of the provision of high speed broadband to 300,575 premises under the contract with his Department, in view of the delays caused by storms in 2017 and 2018; the number of premises passed to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25047/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1025 and 1026 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. Today, 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. By 2020, 9 out of 10 premises will have access to a high speed broadband connection. This is being achieved via a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention.

In April 2017, I signed a Commitment Agreement with eir in relation to its plans to provide high speed broadband to 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis. Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available at. A copy of the Commitment Agreement is available on my Department’s website .

Officials from my Department meet with eir on a monthly basis to review the company’s performance on the on-going rollout by a number of sub-milestones. One of these sub-milestones is the number of premises for which detailed and high level design has been completed.

The latest detailed figures available to officials from my Department show eir’s designs up to the end of April 2018. Under the Commitment Agreement eir committed to completing detailed and high level design for 271,000 and 295,000 premises respectively by this time. According to figures provided to my Department the company has, as of the end of April, completed detailed and high level design for 239,000 and 272,000 premises respectively. These issues have arisen as a result of the scale and complexity of this project.  Officials from my Department will continue to intensively engage with eir on a monthly basis in relation to all project milestones.

Data for Q1 2018 recently verified by my Department indicates that the company has passed some 145,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment. These premises have been passed predominantly with Fibre to the Home, with some eVDSL technology also utilised. All of these 145,000 premises are part of the original 300,000 eir agreed to pass under the Commitment Agreement.

eir has signalled that there has been some knock-on effects to the delivery of the 2018 milestone targets due to the severe weather impacts of both storms Ophelia and Emma. I have met with the senior management in eir and expressed to them the importance of implementing measures to catch up with milestone targets as a priority.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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1027. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of rural broadband roll-out in County Kildare and in particular Kileenmore, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25064/18]

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.  The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector. Today, 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. By 2020, 9 out of 10 premises will have access to a high speed broadband connection. This is being achieved via a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention. In April 2017 I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at . 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 NBP. The Map is colour coded and searchable by address and 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 rollout high speed broadband to 300,000 premises as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with me in April 2017 and available on my Department’s website

There are approximately 74 premises in the townland of Killeenmore, Co Kildare. 25 (74%) fall within the AMBER area and will be served under the State led Intervention. The remaining 9 (26%) premises are in a LIGHT BLUE area and fall to be served by eir's planned 300k rural deployment. 

My Department is in the final phase of a formal procurement process to select a company who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area.

Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available at. Quarterly updates on eir's rural deployment are published on my Department’s website. Figures for Q1 2018 are now available.

Data for Q1 2018 recently verified by my Department indicates that the company passed some 145,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment. eir has signalled that there has been knock-on effects to the 2018 milestone targets due to the severe weather impacts of both storms Ophelia and Emma. I have met with the senior management at eir and expressed to them the importance of implementing measures to catch up with milestone targets as a priority.

For those premises currently awaiting access to high speed broadband, 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. The Department of Rural and Community Development maintain a list of Broadband Officers, a link to which is available on my Department's website at