Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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850. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development what new initiatives under rural connectivity created by the National Broadband Plan are being considered to deliver new services remotely and support new activity in rural communities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29773/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, is responsible for the delivery of the National Broadband Plan (NBP). The NBP will be delivered through investment by commercial enterprises with intervention by the State where private companies have no plans to invest. To date, fibre roll-out in the State intervention area has passed 254,917 premises and 84,333 premises connected across rural Ireland and aims to make high-speed fibre broadband available to over 300,000 homes, farms and businesses before the end of this year. Overall, the State intervention will deliver fibre broadband to 564,000 premises across the country.

One of the key focuses of Our Rural Future, the Government's Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, is optimising digital connectivity to support vibrant, sustainable rural communities. Broadband Connection Points (BCP) were installed under the NBP and are located in some of the most isolated and rural communities throughout the country. They have brought connectivity to almost 300 publicly available sites across the country. BCPs are located in publicly accessible buildings, such as community centres, sports clubs and libraries that allow the public to access the internet onsite. They are located in some of the most rural communities throughout each local authority area, including islands off Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Cork.

My Department has funded a number of projects in BCPs which demonstrate the opportunities that connectivity and remote delivery offers, and provide solutions to challenges or address gaps in service that have been identified by the Department, local authorities or other stakeholders. Projects in thematic areas such as Digital Skills and Education, Arts and Culture and Remote Working have been developed in partnership with key stakeholders and rolled out to suitable BCPs across the network.

High speed broadband has facilitated people to work remotely and my Department's Connected Hubs initiative provides hub owners and customers with a central, easy to use portal to offer and book a range of services, particularly professional remote working spaces and meeting rooms. Good progress is being made towards the target of having 400 hubs on the network over the lifetime of Our Rural Future. A number of initiatives have been developed through Connected Hubs that benefit the wider community, such as 'Learning in the Hubs' which enables adult learners to undertake Technology University of the Shannon college courses in local hubs with state-of-the-art facilities allowing students to remain in their own locality to study, whilst also networking with other students.

To take further advantage of the opportunities presented to rural communities through broadband connectivity, my Department, together with the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, and in consultation with key stakeholders is leading on the formulation of a National Hub Strategy. The strategy will include measures to underpin the sustainable development of the network of hubs with a view to enabling rural regeneration, contributing to more balanced regional economic development, and supporting remote working and delivery of services in rural communities.