Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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751. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when a premises (details supplied) will receive high-speed broadband; if this will be prioritised due to the urgent business need; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30126/18]

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 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.

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.

The premises referred to by the Deputy is in an AMBER area on my Department’s High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. It is therefore included in the State Intervention Area under the NBP.

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

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. My officials have carried out a desk top survey of the referenced premises and have determined that there is an existing eir 4G tower some 1.89km from the premises in question and this tower provides a good clear line of sight to this premises. The possibility of 4G data coverage might therefore be explored by the premises owner while the NBP process is being finalised.

Under the 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 at this https://www.dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/communications/topics/Broadband/national-broadband-plan/latest-news/Pages/Broadband-Officers-Workshop.aspx..