Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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100. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will address the lack of broadband in parts of rural Ireland which is making remote working extremely difficult; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50017/21]

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. The NBP roll out is currently a 7 year plan under the contract and deployment is due to be complete by the end of 2026.

I appreciate people's frustration when they are living so close to a fibre network but cannot get a connection to that network, 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 underway.

Despite the unprecedented challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, National Broadband Ireland 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 7 October, over 264,000 premises across all counties have been surveyed with over 108,000 premises under construction in Counties Cork, Cavan, Galway, Limerick and Monaghan.  Almost 17,000 premises have been passed and are available for connection in Counties Cork, Cavan, Galway, Limerick and Monaghan. In addition, over 10,000 premises are available for pre order which means that they will be connected in the coming months. Build work is continuing across the country in 19 Deployment Areas covering townlands in Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Monaghan, Roscommon, Louth, Wicklow, Waterford, Wexford, Kildare, Dublin, Tipperary, Mayo, Sligo, Westmeath.  Make ready works are underway in a further 11 Deployment Areas.

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.

In line with the Programme for Government, NBI and my Department are also engaged in a review of potential measures that can be taken to accelerate the network rollout in parallel with the measures required to mitigate delays arising as a result of Covid-19. My Department continues to engage with NBI to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of the NBP 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. However, the primary focus must be on addressing the delays which have arisen and ensuring that the National Broadband Ireland build programme gets back on track and is building momentum month on month.