Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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233. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a school (details supplied) will be connected under the National Broadband Plan given that it is unable to access the schools broadband programme due to location; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46591/21]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, 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. My Department has now prioritised primary schools with no high speed broadband and continues to work with the Department of Education in this regard. An acceleration of this aspect of the National Broadband Plan will see some 677 primary schools connected to high speed broadband by the end of 2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026. It is expected that well in excess of 200 will be installed by the end of this year.

Kilmurry National School forms part of this initiative and has already been surveyed by National Broadband Ireland (NBI). NBI has informed my Department that a wireless solution has been proposed and installation will commence shortly. The Department of Education are aware of this development.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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234. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if reps@nbi.ie is still responsible for answering representation from Houses of Oireachtas members; if there is a delay in the system; the approximate timeline to reply to queries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46594/21]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The email address referred to is a dedicated email address operated by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries relating to the roll out of new high speed broadband network under the National Broadband Plan. My Department has no direct role in relation to this email address and any queries regarding same are a matter for NBI. I have passed the queries raised in the Question to NBI and asked them to respond directly to the Deputy.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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235. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of premises in County Mayo; the number of premises that have had NBI surveys completed in County Mayo; the number of premises in which NBI surveys are ongoing in County Mayo; the number of premises that have been passed and available for internet connection in County Mayo; the number of premises that have been connected in County Mayo in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46597/21]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, 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 some 699 schools.

There are 84,299 premises in County Mayo of which 47,872 are in the commercial area and 36,793 are within the NBP Intervention Area. I am advised by NBI that, as of 17 September 2021, over 257,000 premises in the Intervention Area across all counties have been surveyed and over 108,000 premises are under construction across 30 Deployment Areas.

I am advised by NBP that the following represents the deployment progress in County Mayo as at the 17 September.

In addition to the challenges to the delivery of the NBP due to the Covid-19 pandemic, NBI has faced a range of other challenges due to the sheer scale and complexity of rolling out fibre to the home in a rural environment. These include significant tree trimming to ensure cable can be placed on overhead poles, remediation of ducting that has been in place for many decades, the co-ordination of hundreds of contracting crews and addressing the many issues arising week on week which could not have been foreseen until the build crews commenced work on the ground. My Department has worked closely with NBI to put in place a remedial plan under the Contract. This plan addresses delays experienced by NBI, primarily arising as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and re-baselines milestones for 2021. Work is underway to re-baseline milestones for 2022 and beyond. This has resulted in some changes to timeframes for connection for end users.

Further details are available on specific areas within County Mayo 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. 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 17 September, 373 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 for publicly accessible sites and the Department of Education for school BCPs. BCP’s are connected at The Black Tom Freeman Sport and Community Amenities Centre, Islandeady Community Centre, Kilmovee Community Centre, Killaser Community Centre, Clare Island Community Centre, Cushlough Community Centre, Carrowkennedy, Keel Community Centre, Belderrig Community & Research Centre, Finny Community Centre, Taugheen Community Centre, and Bofeenaun Community Centre. Further details can be found atnbi.ie/bcp-locations.

Valley National School, Dookinella National School, Midfield National School, Cloonliffen National School, Errew National School, Gortskehy National School, Kinaffe National School, Rathbane National School, Tavraun Central National School, Saint Coleman's National School, Rathnamagh National School, Cloghans National School, Meelick More National School, Facefield National School, and Scoil Néifinn, Keenagh, have been installed by NBI for educational access. 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 nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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236. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason a national broadband connection date for a property (details supplied) in County Kerry has been moved forward five years from summer 2021 to December 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46651/21]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, 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.

I am advised by NBI that, as of 17 September, over 250,000 premises across all counties have been surveyed with over 108,000 premises under construction.

In addition to the challenges to the delivery of the NBP due to the Covid-19 pandemic, NBI has faced a range of other challenges due to the sheer scale and complexity of rolling out fibre to the home in a rural environment. These include significant tree trimming to ensure cable can be placed on overhead poles, remediation of ducting that has been in place for many decades, the co-ordination of hundreds of contracting crews and addressing the many issues arising week on week which could not have been foreseen until the build crews commenced work on the ground. The Department has worked closely with NBI to put in place a remedial plan under the Contract. This plan addresses delays experienced by NBI, primarily arising as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and re-baselines milestones for 2021. Work is underway to re-baseline milestones for 2022 and beyond. This has resulted in some changes to timeframes for connection for end-users.

Given the scale and complexity of delivery of the new high speed broadband network under the NBP, I am advised that any dates provided by NBI on its website are based on the best available information at the time and may be subject to change. NBI has recently published details of its full deployment schedule on its website, www.nbi.ie, which enables all premises within the intervention area to have an anticipated service activation date range.

My officials queried the specific issue raised in the Question with NBI who confirmed that this Eircode was always scheduled to be in the later end of the build programme. The network rollout for the National Broadband Plan is divided into 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) across the country. These are typically an area of approximately 25km in radius and in total they cover 96% of Ireland’s landmass. Counties are generally made up of a number of DAs which means there are differing timescales for connection across county areas.

I appreciate people's frustration when they are living so close to a fibre network but cannot get a connection to that network in the immediate term, 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 under way.