Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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113. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason homes in Mulcaire Manor, Newport, County Tipperary are unable to obtain fibre to the home, FTTH, broadband despite the fact that commercial operators are already delivering high speed broadband services in this area of County Tipperary; if he will ensure that any works required for the provision of FTTH broadband are completed and available so that each home in Mulcaire Manor can access FTTH; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6204/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The estate referred to in the Question is located in the BLUE area on the NBP High-Speed Broadband Map which is available on my Department's website at www.broadband.gov.ie.

BLUE areas are not included in the State intervention area covered by the National Broadband Plan as commercial operators are already providing high-speed broadband or have indicated future plans to do so. My Department defines high-speed broadband as a connection with minimum speeds of 30Mbps download and 6Mbps upload. Under State aid rules, my Department is not permitted to displace commercial investment by intervening in areas where commercial investment exists or is planned, as to do so would be an infringement of these State aid rules. The activities of commercial operators delivering high-speed broadband within BLUE areas are not planned or funded by the State and my Department has no statutory authority to intervene in that regard.

The entire estate referred to in this question is located in the blue coverage area because all of the houses are served by a commercial operator and are capable of obtaining 30Mbps or greater.

In December 2022 my Department published Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy which supports the ambition outlined in the National Digital Strategy and sets out a number of ambitious targets namely:

- all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028;

- all populated areas will be covered by 5G no later than 2030, and

- digital connectivity will be delivered to all schools and broadband connection points by 2023.

The majority of digital connectivity across the State will be delivered through commercial investment by the telecommunications industry and this will be complemented by the National Broadband Plan.

Eir has committed to rolling out fibre to a further 1.6 million premises, bringing their fibre deployment to some 1.9 million premises. SIRO is currently completing the first phase of its fibre deployment and to date has passed more than 430,000 premises with gigabit services and it has recently announced plans to extend its network to an additional 320,000 premises. Virgin Media is offering 250Mbps as a standard offering with 500Mbps and 1Gbps available to many of their customers across the more than 1 million premises that they cover. Many other network operators and telecom service providers across the State also continue to invest in their networks.