Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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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, including that:

• all Irish households andbusinesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028
• all populated areas will becovered by 5G no later than 2030, and
• digital connectivity will bedelivered to all schools and broadband connection points by 2023

These targets will be achieved through commercial operators investing in their networks, complemented by the State’s National Broadband Plan intervention. When taken together, all premises in the State will have access to high-speed broadband in every part of the country no matter how remote.

The Question refers to a premises located in the AMBER area on the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map which is available on my Department's website www.broadband.gov.ie The AMBER area represents the area to be served by the network to be deployed under the NBP State led intervention. NBI advise that this premises is at a status of ‘Pending Survey’ with an estimated connection date of January – December 2026.

The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available to this premises can be found on National Broadband Ireland’s (NBI) website at Network Map - NBI. This website is regularly updated providing the expected timeline for delivery and status of any works that are initiated at any point in time. NBI also has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.

Recent ComReg data shows that Quarter 3 of 2023, saw a 7.62% increase in fibre broadband subscriptions compared to Qtr 2, 2023, and a 33.83% increase when compared to Quarter 3 of 2022. This demonstrates that the take-up of fibre connectivity for homes and businesses is increasing greatly as the services are deployed to areas where they had previously been unavailable. This demonstrates that take-up of fibre connectivity for homes and businesses is increasing substantially as it is deployed to areas where it had previously been unavailable.

The same ComReg data also indicates that c. 40% of homes and business throughout the State now have access to gigabit services through either fibre (619,968) or cable (354,074) infrastructure.