Written answers

Wednesday, 14 July 2021

Department of Education and Skills

National Broadband Plan

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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197. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the engagement she or the agencies under her remit has had with the National Broadband Plan in the past two months. [38199/21]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is working closely with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications on the implementation of the National Broadband Plan Intervention area, which will see some 679 primary schools provided with high speed connectivity by the end of 2022. This includes the School Connection Points under the Broadband Connection Points programme implementation currently underway. There is ongoing collaboration to ensure schools can avail of the delivery of high speed broadband infrastructure through the Schools Broadband Programme in a timely manner. The implementation of the National Broadband Plan is managed by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications and any engagement is in that context.

The policy of my Department is to offer the best quality connectivity to all schools in line with the technical solutions available in the market and within financial constraints through the Schools Broadband Programme. Currently my Department invests some €13m annually for the provision of internet connectivity to schools. As you will be aware, broadband capacity can vary across geographical locations and is dependent on local infrastructure which can impact on the service that can be provided in individual schools.

In operating the Schools Broadband Programme, my Department adheres to procurement regulations, and must engage with the selected retail serviced providers on the DE Framework of Providers of Broadband Services through a tender process to award services. National Broadband Ireland is not one of these providers, however when the infrastructure provided by NBI is in place, the retail service providers on the Primary Schools Broadband Framework will be in a position to utilise this in providing connectivity through my Department's School Broadband Programme, as is the case for all wholesale providers of broadband infrastructure.

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