Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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25. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will report on the work underway in his Department to support the speed up the implementation of the National Broadband Plan; the position regarding Covid-19 and its impact on any penalties for delays in the implementation of the plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44224/21]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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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 and supply chain and logistic delays, both nationally and internationally. In addition, there have been challenges with 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 staffs are at risk of contracting Covid 19 or may have had to restrict their movements as a result of being a close contact. My Department has worked closely with NBI to put in place a remedial plan under the Contract to address the impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic on the project for 2021. The impact on future years continues to be assessed.  NBI is putting in place mitigation measures to address the impact of the pandemic on the programme to date. These include

- Increasing the rate of pole replacement and duct remediation per month

- Bringing in more resources to NBI

- Purchasing more materials earlier

- Bringing in more subcontractors

While delivery of the Programme is the responsibility of NBI under the Contract, my Department continues to monitor delivery very closely. In parallel with the ongoing oversight of the contract, my Department has also been working with the 31 Local Authorities, the County and City Management Agency (CCMA), the Roads Maintenance Office (RMO), Broadband Officers and other Government Departments, where appropriate, to ensure that any possible barriers that might delay the rollout are addressed as soon as possible. This also includes engagement with other bodies such as Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Irish Rail and ComReg. 

The contract makes provision for dealing with delays to delivery of the network arising from unprecedented events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and NBI can seek additional time to meet contract milestones. In those circumstances no penalties would apply. In other circumstances, the contract provides that penalty provisions relating to delays to delivery of the network are applicable with respect to any delays that occur from the end of contract year 2 (i.e. from 1 February 2022).