Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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18. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the areas which will be targeted first under the national broadband plan; when County Kildare can expect to see premises passed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49412/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The National Broadband Plan is the Government’s plan to rollout high speed broadband to the 1.1 million people living and working in the nearly 540,000 premises including almost 100,000 businesses and farms, along with 695 schools, where commercial operators will not commit to deliver the service.

Following the contract signing on 19 November, work has already begun and a deployment plan will be made available by NBI shortly. All counties will see premises passed in the first 2 years and over 90% of premises in the State will have access to high speed broadband within the next four years.

Approximately 300 Broadband Connections Points (BCPs), including schools, library hubs and local sports halls in every county in Ireland, will be connected to high speed broadband during 2020, to enable communities to quickly get free public access to high speed broadband. Nine BCPs are planned for deployment in County Kildare. The BCP locations are available to view on the High Speed Broadband Map on the Department’s website www.dccae.gov.ie.

By the end of 2021, NBI plans to pass approximately 115,000 premises, with 70,000 - 100,000 passed each year thereafter until rollout is completed. NBI has indicated that the network rollout will take an estimated 7 years from the beginning of deployment.

The planned rollout will provide access to high speed broadband to 13,329 premises located in the Intervention Area in County Kildare through the investment of approximately €53m over 25 years.