Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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65. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the roll-out of the national broadband plan with particular reference to County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37584/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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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.

There are approximately 91,000 premises in Kildare. Approximately 13,500 (15%) fall within the AMBER area and will be served under the State led Intervention. Some 76,000 (83%) premises are in a BLUE area and are or will be served by commercial providers, while some 1,500 (2%) are LIGHT BLUE and fall to be served as part of an ongoing rural deployment by eir.

Information on categories of specific premises can be accessed on my Department’s website www.broadband.gov.ie by entering the relevant eircode into the High Speed Broadband 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. This 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.

Data for Q2 2018 submitted by eir to my Department indicates that the company has passed some 175,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment.

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 .