Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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71. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of each development area in County Kerry as part of the national broadband plan, in tabular form (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4421/21]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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72. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of retail service providers established in each development area in County Kerry as part of the national broadband plan, in tabular form (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4422/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 71 and 72 together.

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 over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with 695 schools. The deployment plan forecasts construction commenced  in all counties within the first 2 years and over 90% of premises in the State having access to high speed broadband within the next four years.

I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, as of 15 January 2021, over 161,000 premises across all counties have been surveyed. In County Kerry, surveys have been completed in townlands around Killarney including Muckross, Fossa, Kilcummin, Lissivigeen, Ballycasheen, Faha, Firies and Ballyhar and in townlands around Tralee such as Curraheen, Abbeydorney, Kilflynn, Firies, Castlemaine and Ardfert. Further details are available on specific areas within County Kerry through the NBI website which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register their interest in being provided with deployment updates through its websitewww.nbi.ie. Individuals who register with this facility will receive regular updates on progress by NBI on delivering the network and specific updates related to their own premises as works commence. I am advised that NBI is working to provide more detail on its website, with a rolling update on network build plans. NBI also has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas Members for specific queries.

NBI has provided the following indicative target dates for surveying and deployment in Co Kerry over the next 18 months.

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 10 January, 243 publicly accessible BCP sites have been installed by NBI and the high speed broadband service will be switched on in these locations through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development. BCP’s installed in Kerry are Gneeveguilla (Tureencahill), Railway Station Heritage Centre and Community Space, Inch Community Centre, Kielduff Community Centre, Cillín Liath. BCPs are connected at Cable Station and Chapeltown. Further details can be found at . 

Boheeshil National School, Dunloe Upper and  Coars National School will be provided with high speed broadband for educational use through ‘service provider' contracts managed by the Department of Education as part of this initiative. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise schools with no high speed broadband, within the Intervention Area, for connection over the term of the NBP. In this regard, an acceleration of the schools aspect of the project was announced late last year and will see some 679 primary schools connected to high speed broadband by 2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026. Further details are available on the NBI website at . 

I am advised that currently there are a total of 30 service providers who have signed the NBI Reference offer out of a total of 34 Retail Service Providers (RSPs) who intend to sell on the NBI network. This is all part of the NBI on-boarding process for service providers so that they can sell high speed broadband to the consumer (residential and business).  I understand that the larger RSPs will be involved nationwide and some smaller RSPs have expressed local interest. The RSPs who have expressed nationwide interest and who have signed up with NBI to-date are:

I am advised that NBI are working with RSPs who are specifically focused on a regional basis, such as Ivertec Ltd., who have signed up with NBI and are a regional RSP in Kerry. I understand that there are some other regional RSPs bordering Kerry who have also signed up with NBI such as Digital Forge, BBnet and Nova telecom. 

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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73. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the location of each primary school broadband connection point planned in County Kerry as part of the National Broadband Initiative Plan in tabular form (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4424/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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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 January 15th, some 243 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and will be connected with high speed publicly accessible broadband through a service provider contract managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development.  School BCPs will be provided with high speed broadband for educational use and more than 70 schools will have been connected by the end of January through ‘service provider' contracts managed by the Department of Education.

An acceleration of the schools aspect of the project was announced late last year and will see some 679 primary schools connected to high speed broadband by 2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026. Further details are available on the NBI website at

Three primary schools have had equipment installed by NBI Co. Kerry and will connected by a retail service provider shortly. 

The following twenty primary schools will be connected as part of the accelerated programme by the end of 2022.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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75. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the provision of fibre broadband to a location (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4437/21]

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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76. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the provision of fibre broadband to a location (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4438/21]

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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77. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the provision of fibre broadband to a location (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4439/21]

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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78. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of access to fibre broadband at a location (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4440/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 75 to 78, inclusive, together.

The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie, shows the areas which will be included in the National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led intervention as well as areas targeted by commercial operators. The map is colour coded and searchable by address and Eircode.

- Premises in the AMBER area will be provided with high speed broadband through the State led Intervention, the contract for which was signed in November last with National Broadband Ireland (NBI).

- The BLUE area represents those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services.

The Questions refer to premises located in the Amber area and one premises located in the Blue area. BLUE areas are not included in the State intervention area covered by the NBP as commercial operators are already providing high speed broadband or have indicated future plans to do so. My Department defines high speed broadband as a connection with minimum speeds of 30Mbps download and 6Mbps upload. The activities of commercial operators delivering high speed broadband within BLUE areas are not planned or funded by the State and my Department has no statutory authority to intervene in that regard. Notwithstanding this, our investigations show that the premises referred to in the BLUE area is located between the network coverage area of an eir exchange for copper based VDSL services and the start of a 300k ribbon. As a result, my Department has escalated the query with eir requesting them to clarify the availability of high speed broadband at the premises.

I appreciate people's frustration when they are living so close to a fibre network but cannot get a connection to that network, particularly given the heightened importance of connectivity during the Covid-19 pandemic. The NBP will ensure that in all such cases a future proofed high speed broadband network will be built to serve these premises and work to deliver on this is underway.

I am advised by NBI that, as of 15 January 2021, over 161,000 premises across all counties have been surveyed. Surveys in County Kerry have been completed in Townlands around Killarney including Muckross, Fossa, Kilcummin, Lissivigeen, Ballycasheen, Faha, Firies and Ballyhar, and in Townlands around Tralee including Curraheen, Abbeydorney, Kilflynn, Firies, Castlemaine and Ardfert. Further details are available on specific areas within County Kerry through the NBI website which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register their interest in being provided with deployment updates through its website www.nbi.ie. Individuals who register with this facility will receive regular updates on progress by NBI on delivering the network and specific updates related to their own premises as works commence. I am aware that that NBI is working to provide more detail on its website, with a rolling update on network build plans. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.

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 10 January, 243 publicly accessible BCP sites have been installed by NBI and the high speed broadband service will be switched on in these locations through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development. BCP’s are installed Gneeveguilla (Tureencahill), Railway Station Heritage Centre and Community Space, Inch Community Centre and Kielduff Community Centre, Cillín Liath. BCPs are installed and connected at Cable Station and Chapeltown. Further details can be found at .

Boheeshil National School, Dunloe Upper and Coars National School are installed by NBI for educational access as part of this initiative. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise schools with no high speed broadband, within the intervention area, for connection over the term of the NBP. In this regard, an acceleration of this aspect of the National Broadband Plan was announced in December which will see some 679 primary schools connected to high speed broadband by 2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026. Further details are available on the NBI website at .