Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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19. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development her plans to improve connectivity and infrastructure for rural areas in County Cork, particularly those that recently moved into the city boundary under the boundary changes. [24332/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The provision of telecommunications services is a matter for commercial providers operating in a liberalised market.  Nonetheless, under the National Broadband Plan (NBP), the Government will fund the provision of a high-speed broadband network in areas where it is not commercially viable for service providers to do so. 

The NBP network, which comes under the remit of Minister Eamon Ryan’s Department, will be rolled out to almost 540,000 premises across the country. 

In parallel, my Department has been working closely with Local Authorities to identify Broadband Connection Points which will make free on-site connectivity available to communities in remote rural areas, including in County Cork.  The BCPs will be situated in publicly accessible buildings such as sports clubs and community centres and will be amongst the first premises to be connected under the National Broadband Plan. 

Over the coming months, approximately 300 Broadband Connection Points will be provided with a high speed connection.  The locations of the BCPs are available on the website of National Broadband Ireland, at www.nbi.ie. 

Many of the BCPs will facilitate remote working which I believe has the potential to transform rural Ireland, allowing people to build careers in good quality jobs while continuing to live in their home place.  

Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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20. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of the roll out of broadband connection points in counties Longford and Westmeath. [16074/20]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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34. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the 300 high-speed Internet hubs announced under the National Broadband Plan on 19 November 2019 will be delivered; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24192/20]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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36. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of the roll out of broadband connection points in counties Carlow and Kilkenny. [16079/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 34, 36 and 39 together.

The Broadband Connection Points, or BCPs, are a collaborative initiative involving my Department, the Department of Communications, the Local Authorities, National Broadband Ireland, Vodafone Ireland and hundreds of volunteers and site owners across the State.

BCPs will make free on-site connectivity available to communities in remote rural areas that currently do not have access to reliable high-speed broadband services.  They will be situated in publicly accessible buildings such as sports clubs and community centres and will be among the first premises to be connected under the National Broadband Plan. 

Approximately 300 BCPs will be connected across the State, including on many of our off-shore islands. These sites have been identified by Local Authority Broadband Officers and have proceeded with the permission of the site owners and the committees and volunteers that run them.

The location of the BCPs are available on the website of National Broadband Ireland, www.nbi.ie, although it should be noted that sites can be subject to change due to circumstances such as the provision of a commercial high speed broadband connection to an area. 

To date National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company contracted to deliver the National Broadband Plan, has provided initial wireless high-speed broadband connections to 130 sites.

Vodafone Ireland, which was awarded the contract to provide and manage end-user services at these sites, has commenced the installation of its equipment at BCP sites and the first cohort of sites will become fully operational in the coming weeks.

By the end of 2020, approximately 200 BCP sites will be live, with the remaining 100 sites operational in early 2021.