Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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172. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide an update on the roll-out of high-speed rural broadband in Cork south west. [12778/23]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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174. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will ensure the provision of broadband to Brookdale, Riverstick, County Cork. [12780/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 172 and 174 together.

I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, 3 March 2023, over 131,300 premises can order or pre-order a high-speed gigabit fibre broadband connection across 26 counties, with over 120,500 premises passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. As of 28 February 2023, over 33,800 premises have been connected.

There are 81,755 premises in County Cork that will be passed by NBI with high-speed gigabit fibre broadband as part of the State Intervention under the National Broadband Plan. Approximately 27,107 of these premises are in the Cork South-West constituency.

To date in Cork over 15,892 premises are passed by the NBP high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection. As of 28 February 4,718 premises have been connected in Cork.

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 3 March, 880 SCP sites (282 Broadband Connection Points, which are publicly accessible sites, and 598 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 SCP’s. In County Cork all 24 BCPs have been installed.

In County Cork 86 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/.

Brookdale Estate is located in the Deployment Area (DA) of Kinsale which is currently pending completion of survey work and is anticipated for connection between January and December 2026.

NBI have created 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: nbi.ie/reps