Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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238. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if the National Broadband Plan contract includes fines for delays in the roll-out of the plan or financial incentives for accelerated roll-out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33112/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led Intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract signed last November to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the Intervention Area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in the nearly 540,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with 695 schools.  The NBI deployment is expected to be substantially progressed over the next five years with the majority of premises in the intervention area expected to have access to high speed broadband by that time. The Public Spending Code obliges public sector entities to ensure that contracts are managed and delivered to the specified standard, within budget and on time. The contract with NBI contains a comprehensive set of protections and legally binding obligations. 

The contract requires significant monthly, quarterly and annual reporting of costs and revenues to my Department, with the subsidy released only upon achievement of contract milestones which are verified through an independent certification process.

The contract also provides that, in instances where NBI fails to achieve certain key performance indicators (KPIs), penalties can be applied in the form of a deduction to subsidy payments due.  These deductions are based on clear and measurable requirements such as the time to connect a new customer with the service or the time taken to repair a fault or the download speed performance that a customer receives.

A series of Claw-backs in the contract were inserted  to ensure that the tax payer gets value for money when savings are achieved or the financial performance of NBI is greater than forecast by “clawing back” subsidy in a number of circumstances.

The Programme for Government has committed to seek to accelerate the roll out of the National Broadband Plan. In this regard, my Department continues to engage with NBI to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of this rollout to establish the possibility of bringing forward premises which are currently scheduled in years 6 and 7 of the current plan to an earlier date. Exploring the potential to accelerate the network rollout is being undertaken in parallel with the measures required to mitigate delays arising as a result of Covid-19. The extent of this impact is currently being assessed and NBI has committed to put in place measures to mitigate the impact in as far as possible.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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239. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of properties passed to date as part of the roll-out of the national broadband scheme; the number of broadband connections made; the number of properties surveyed to date in relation to this scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33637/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led Intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract signed last November to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the Intervention Area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with 695 schools. The NBP network will offer users a high speed broadband service with a minimum download speed of 500Mbps from the outset. This represents an increase from the 150Mbps committed to under the Contract. The deployment plan forecasts premises passed in all counties within the first 2 years and approximately 70,000 to 100,000 premises will be passed each year thereafter which will result in over 90% of premises in the State having access to high speed broadband within the next four years.

As of 27 October, design work is complete or ongoing in target townlands across 25 counties and steady progress is being made with over 118,000 premises surveyed to date. This activity is increasing week on week and by year end NBI expects to have completed some 120,000 surveys. This activity involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area. This is informing design solutions for provision of the fibre network. This detailed design is then used to initiate the ‘make ready’ project with eir for the area, where eir ensure any poles and ducts being reused are fit for purpose. It is also used to initiate works with the subcontractors deploying the actual fibre in the area. The laying of fibre should commence shortly with the first fibre to the home connections expected around December this year in Cork. Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) are a key element of the NBP providing high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre to the home network.

As of 23 October, some 179 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and 59 of these are now connected with high speed publicly accessible broadband, through a service provider contract managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development. In addition, school BCPs will be provided with high speed broadband, for educational use only, through a service provider contract managed by the Department of Education and Skills. To date, 6 schools have been connected with high speed broadband for educational access only. It is anticipated that 275 BCP sites will be connected by the end of the year. Further details can be found at .

While substantial progress has been made to date, the Covid 19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of the fibre network. The extent of this impact is currently being assessed and NBI has committed to put in place measures to mitigate the impact in as far as possible. The Covid 19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of good reliable broadband to ensure that citizens across Ireland can avail of remote working, education and other essential online facilities.

The Programme for Government has committed to seek to accelerate the roll out of the National Broadband Plan. In this regard, my Department continues to engage with NBI to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of this rollout to establish the possibility of bringing forward premises which are currently scheduled in years 6 and 7 of the current plan to an earlier date. Exploring the potential to accelerate the network rollout is being undertaken in parallel with the measures required to mitigate delays arising as a result of Covid-19.