Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Premises in the housing estate referenced by the Deputy fall into both the AMBER and LIGHT BLUE areas of my Department's High Speed Broadband Map, available at www.broadband.gov.ie.

- The AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led Intervention under the NBP. This intervention is the subject of an ongoing procurement process.

- The LIGHT BLUE areas are where eir is in the process of deploying high speed broadband to 300,000 premises on a commercial basis.

For those premises in the AMBER areas, the procurement process to appoint a bidder for the State intervention network is now at the final stage.  I will bring a recommendation to Government in relation to the NBP in the coming weeks.

Under a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017, eir is in the process of passing 300,000 predominantly rural homes with high speed broadband. According to the latest data submitted by eir to my Department the company has passed approximately 225,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment. This information will be available on my Department’s website shortly.  Information on eir's rural deployment is available on that company’s website, .

With regard to premises in the housing estate which are in the LIGHT BLUE area, I note that certain premises in the surrounding area have been recorded by eir as passed, meaning high speed broadband is available.  However, a number of premises in the estate itself are not yet indicated as having been passed.

Officials in my Department will raise a query with eir in order to seek further information and will revert to the Deputy.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 161, 162 and 164 together.

In April 2017 my Department published an updated version of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map. This is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. The 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 NBP. The Map is colour coded and searchable by address/Eircode:

- The AMBER area represents the parts of the country where commercial operators have no plans to build high speed broadband networks. Premises in the AMBER area will be provided with high Speed Broadband through a State Intervention.

- The BLUE area represents those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services.

- The LIGHT BLUE area represents eir's commercial rural deployment plans to rollout high speed broadband to 300,000 premises as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017.

The following table details the percentage of premises to be covered by the State Intervention and through commercial investment in the areas identified by the Deputy.

The procurement process to appoint a bidder for the State intervention network is now at the final stage.  I will bring a recommendation to Government in relation to the NBP in the coming weeks.

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. 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.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The premises referred to by the Deputy is in the BLUE area on the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map, which is available on my Department's website at www.broadband.gov.ie. The BLUE areas are where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services.

Where a citizen living in a Blue area is unable to obtain a high speed broadband service, I would encourage them to email my Department at broadband@dccae.gov.ie with their Eircode and details of the service providers they have contacted and the issues encountered in respect of accessing high speed broadband.

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. 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.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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165. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on a matter (details supplied) in relation to broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8892/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I understand that the cable in question was laid by the ESB for the purpose of transmitting data on wind farm electricity generation and not for the purpose of providing broadband services to members of the public. According to my Department’s High Speed Broadband Map, available at www.broadband.gov.ie, all premises in the townland of Knocknaboul are in the AMBER area and will receive access to a high speed broadband service through the NBP State intervention. This intervention is the subject of an ongoing procurement process. 

The procurement process to appoint a bidder for the State intervention network is now at the final stage.  I will bring a recommendation to Government in relation to the NBP in the coming weeks.

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. 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.