Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

41. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his engagements with a company (details supplied) in relation to the acceleration of the National Broadband Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5037/21]

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

77. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the work being carried out to speed up the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan in view of the fact that some persons have reported that their jobs may be on the line due to their subpar internet access in rural areas. [5789/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 41 and 77 together.  41 and 77 together.

The Covid-19 pandemic has 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 commits 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.

NBI has established a dedicated team to investigate acceleration of the rollout from its current contracted schedule of seven years. All possible alternative network providers are being considered and substantial work has been completed by this team to date with further actions scheduled over the coming months. Part of this work includes an assessment of the potential to utilise the ESB Network for certain areas and this work is on-going. The technical feasibility of whether the ESB network is compatible with the NBI solution has been the primary focus and NBI has undertaken site surveys and developed a detailed design for a pilot area using the ESB network, with the aim of establishing from this pilot exercise, the feasibility of using the ESB infrastructure on a broader basis.

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.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

42. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his engagements with National Broadband Ireland in relation to delays to the National Broadband Plan due to Covid-19; the details of measures to mitigate delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5038/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department engages with NBI on an ongoing basis across all aspects of the project including the impact of Covid-19 on delivery of the project. Despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, NBI has made steady progress on delivery of the new high speed fibre broadband network under the National Broadband Plan. I am advised by NBI that, as of 22 January 2021, over 166,000 premises across 26 counties have been surveyed. The first fibre to the home connections are successfully connected and in a test and trial phase in Carrigaline, Co Cork and Cavan. Technical testing and validation will be undertaken prior to a wider release of the areas.

Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) are providing high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre to the home network. As of 22 January 2021, 255 sites have been installed by NBI. In addition, school BCPs will be provided with high speed broadband for educational use through this initiative. An acceleration of this aspect of the project 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.

While substantial progress has been made to date, the Covid 19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of the fibre network resulting in delays on delivery of aspects of the programme. Impacts include challenges with mobilisation of key contractors with restrictions on operations, supply chain and logistic delays (both nationally and internationally), as welll as the recruitment of key personnel as NBI and its contractors scale, up including challenges associated with on-boarding and training people. Inevitably, like many other organisations, NBI and contractor staff are at risk of contracting Covid 19 or may have to restrict their movements as a result of being a close contact posing further challenges. 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.