Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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542. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the details and locations of each of the 64 mapped local mobile telephone black spots in County Galway in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4225/19]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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In 2017, officials from my Department, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and a small number of Local Authorities met to examine the potential for mapping mobile phone black spots in Ireland.

On foot of these meetings, an invitation was issued in late 2017 to all Local Authorities to provide data on 5-6 prioritised local black spots.

Some Local Authorities provided details of more than the 5-6 black spots requested. However, the intention was only to identify areas of immediate priority for the purposes of the exercise in question, rather than to compile a definitive list of black spots across the country.

While the exercise was informative, it was not comprehensive. Of the thirty one Local Authorities, only seventeen returned data to feed into the exercise. The majority of Local Authorities did not have the capacity to carry out technical testing. Furthermore, the methods used to collect the data varied.

Simultaneously, mobile network operators and infrastructure providers were increasing the number of mobile phone sites in service, as well as upgrading existing networks. As a consequence, the data that was collected in 2018 only represented a snapshot in time for certain areas and could not be interpreted as a definitive source of information regarding mobile phone black spots. Nor would it be a fair reflection of the current situation, as network developments are taking place on an on-going basis.

ComReg will shortly be publishing a national map of mobile phone coverage for 2G, 3G and 4G services. This map will show the quality of mobile phone coverage across the county and is a key deliverable of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce.