Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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417. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of broadband coverage at a location (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51525/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The premises referred to by the Deputy is in the LIGHT BLUE area on the High Speed Broadband Map, which is available on my Department's website at .In April 2017, my Department 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.  The LIGHT BLUE areas are where eir is in the process of this deployment. According to the latest Q3 update on the High Speed Broadband Map the premises in question has yet to be passed by eir as part of this deployment. Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available at. This website also confirms the premises in question is within the deployment zone of eir’s deployment.

According to data for Q3 2018 submitted by eir to my Department the company has passed almost 210,000 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.