Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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573. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the identification process for sites (details supplied) first commenced and was completed; the agencies and Departments that participated in this exercise; the location of each of the 300 sites by townland and county in tabular form; if the sites have been published; if not, the reason therefor; and the cost of undertaking this identification exercise. [16765/19]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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My Department is working closely with officials in the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment to prepare Local Authorities for the roll out of the National Broadband Plan (NBP).

The process the Deputy refers to is part of the NBP preparation. It began during the summer of 2018 and is ongoing. The sites were identified by the Local Authorities and will provide important broadband access for public use.  The list of sites were shared with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Department of Communication, Climate Action and Environment.

The availability and suitability of all sites has yet to be confirmed and, as such, I do not propose to make their locations publicly available at this time.

As the Deputy will appreciate, initiatives such as these are complex and care must be taken to ensure that property owners and local communities are given the time to consider, consult and to ask questions.

To date, no money has been spent on this process.