Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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79. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the progress in rolling out fibre broadband by a company at locations (details supplied); if the new timelines for the deployment of broadband at the locations have been approved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14241/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location. This is being achieved through a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention.

In April 2017 my Department published an updated version of the 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 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 three premises referenced by the Deputy fall within the Light Blue, Blue and Amber categories respectively.

For the specific premises which falls within the Light Blue area of the map, further information on eir's commercial deployment, including timelines, is provided on that company’s website, www.fibrerollout.ie.

The specific premises within the Blue area of the Map is categorised as a blue dot in a light blue area. This means it is a premises indicated as having been passed by eir as part of their rural deployment of high speed broadband. Therefore, that premises should be in a position to order a high speed broadband connection from a provider offering services on that network.

I advise people living in blue areas who are experiencing difficulty in obtaining a high speed broadband service to contact the NBP customer service team at broadband@dccae.gov.ie directly, providing their name, phone number, email address and Eircode, as well as details of any issues they are experiencing getting connected.

For the final premises referenced by the Deputy, the procurement process to appoint a bidder for the State intervention network is now at the final stage. I intend to bring a recommendation to Government in relation to the NBP in the coming weeks.