Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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89. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide an update on the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan in County Meath; the target number of homes to be passed for 2022; the number of homes passed in County Meath to date; the targets for County Meath in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62753/22]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, as of 2 December 2022, over 112,200 premises can order or pre-order a high-speed broadband connection across 25 counties, with over 101,700 premises passed across 25 counties and available for immediate connection. Construction is underway across 26 counties demonstrating that the project is reaching scale. To date, the level of connections is increasing on a daily basis and is exceeding expectations.

The NBI website shows that 18 of the 227 Deployment Areas under the NBP, will include premises in County Meath, with build works underway in four Deployment Areas covering more than 4,000 premises in Meath, where almost 2,000 of those premises should be in a position to order a connection to the NBP network by the end of January next, with the first of these premises already available to be connected.

Further details are available on specific areas within County Meath 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.

NBI has made recent improvements to their website, creating a portal that will serve as a means for Oireachtas members to proactively search for information relevant to their county/local area. The portal provides an up-to-date picture of NBI’s deployment schedule across the 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) in all 26 counties. A particular county can be selected to view an update of the overall number of premises in the Intervention Area, the overall NBP investment in the county, the number of premises passed and connected to date and the status of each of the Deployment Areas with the anticipated date for connection over the lifetime of the project. The dedicated webpage can be accessed here: www.nbi.ie.

Strategic Connection Points (SCPs) 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 02 December 2022, 823 SCP sites (280 Broadband Connection Points, which are publicly accessible sites, and 543 schools) have been installed 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 BCPs and the Department of Education for school SCPs. In County Meath 15 BCPs have been installed to date.

In County Meath 21 schools BCPs have been installed by NBI to date 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. Further details are available on the NBI website at nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.