Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

40. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the steps taken to advance the commitment in the Programme for Government to improve connectivity and access for rural dwellers to work, study, social activities and public services while reducing car dependence. [24320/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital connectivity in supporting many aspects of our daily lives.  Throughout the crisis, digital connectivity has helped people to avoid becoming socially isolated; it has enabled students to continue their education through on-line learning; and it has demonstrated its potential to support economic activity, remote working and a better quality of life for many people who previously spent many hours in long commutes.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the key component of the Government’s digital connectivity strategy and will have a positive impact across a number of policy areas, including climate adaptation, agriculture, education, transport, tourism, jobs and health.

The NBP will provide a high-speed and future-proofed broadband network to almost 540,000 premises across the State which will not be served by commercial broadband rollout.

Among the first premises to be connected will be approximately 300 Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) which are situated in remote rural areas.  Each of these sites will be provided with a wireless high speed broadband connection which will provide free on-site internet connectivity to the public. 

The planned BCP locations are listed by county on NBI's website at https://nbi.ie/bcp-locations/.  Some BCP sites may change over time as commercial connectivity becomes more widespread or as the circumstances at each site changes. 

The first sites will become operational over the coming weeks.

In parallel with this initiative, my Department has been working with the Western Development Commission to build an integrated network of remote working hubs along the Atlantic Economic Corridor, from Kerry to Donegal.  The approach to building this network and shared backoffice services will serve as a model which can be replicated in other parts of the country.