Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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93. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the roll-out of the national broadband plan nationally and specifically in rural areas of north County Dublin as of January 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1418/21]

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 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.

Design work is complete or ongoing in target townlands across every county in Ireland with over 186,000 premises surveyed as of 3 March.

This activity involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area.

There are 13,429 premises within the intervention area of County Dublin for the National Broadband Plan.  As of 3 March some 2,437 (18%) of the premises in County Dublin have been surveyed. Surveying has taken place in Skerries, Balbriggan and North County Dublin and surveys are due to commence in the areas of Lusk in Q3 of this year.  Further details are available on specific areas within Dublin 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 when works are due to commence.

I am aware that concerns have been raised regarding the level of information available on the deployment of the NBI network and I am advised that NBI is working to provide more detail on its website, with a rolling update on network build plans.

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 3 March, 287 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and the high speed broadband service will be switched on through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly accessible locations and the Department of Education for schools. Glenasmole Community Centre, Man of War GAA, Fingal Ravens GAA, and Stars of Erin GAA / Dublin Mountain Community Centre Centre have now been connected with high speed publicly accessible broadband, with more locations planned over the coming months. Further details can be found at .

Balscadden National School has also been connected for educational access only as part of this initiative. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise other 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 has been announced 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 .