Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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13. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of villages and townlands in Tipperary still awaiting the roll out highspeed broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26130/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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In December 2022, Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy was published which supports the ambition outlined in the National Digital Strategy and set out a number of targets including that all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028.

The Programme for Government – Securing Ireland’s Future published in January 2025 sets a number of targets which include the completion of the installation of high-speed fibre broadband to 1.1 million people, including homes, farms, and businesses nationwide, by 2026.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland.

National Broadband Ireland (NBI) are connecting circa 4,200 homes each month.

I am advised by NBI that, over 361,100 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. Over 126,930 premises are already connected to the National Broadband Plan high-speed broadband network.

There are circa 31,000 premises in County Tipperary to be served by the network deployed under the NBP State led intervention currently of which 24,179 premises are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and 25,379 are available to order/pre-order, with 7,935 premises now connected. A further 6,830 premises in Tipperary will be passed by NBI’s high speed fibre broadband by the end of the contract.

There are 21 Deployment Areas (DA’s) that include premises in County Tipperary:

- 17 DA’s are Available to Pre-Order/Available to Order,

- 4 DA’s are at the Network Build stage. Birr DA and Newport DA have an anticipated date for connection of October -December 2025 and Littleton DA and Mitchelstown DA have an anticipated date for connection of January -June 2026.

Further details are available on specific areas within County Tipperary and can be monitored via . NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.

Along with the NBP intervention contract, progress is being made by commercial operators in expanding their next generation networks throughout the State and ensuring the targets set out in the Digital Connectivity strategy are achieved.

Open eir have already passed in excess of 46,770 homes and businesses in Tipperary with gigabit services, with plans to pass a further c. 10,975 homes and businesses. Commercial operators are also continuing to increase their network footprint right across Tipperary with SIRO having passed in excess of 17,663 premises for full fibre and Virgin Media having passed 10,063 premises.

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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14. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide an update on the roll out of highspeed broadband in the village of Rathcabbin, County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26131/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland.

The village of Rathcabbin is predominantly within the BLUE area on the broadband map which is available on my Department's website .

The BLUE area represents those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high-speed broadband services. The Department defines high-speed broadband as a connection with minimum speeds of 30Mbps download and 6Mbps upload.

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.

There may be a choice of operators offering this service in any given area. Further information in this regard is available at www.comreg.ie/compare/#/services.

If a person lives in the BLUE area and after contacting their Retail Service Provider are told they cannot get access to greater than 30Mbps, they should raise a query via the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) webform at and the Department will escalate with the commercial operator to investigate this matter further.

As per records online at , the Rathcabbin Village has been included in open eir’s Full Fibre deployment programme which will provide a full fibre Gigabit connection. However, the build process has not yet started.

My Department does not have sight of information that provides an estimated timeline of when Open eir will provide a full fibre Gigabit connection to premises, other than what’s on the Open eir messaging (ie some point between now and 2026, when the programme is due to conclude.

The AMBER area on the map is to be served by the network deployed under the NBP State led intervention. NBI have advised that premises outside Rathcabbin village are split between 2 deployment areas. North of the town is Banagher DA and premises in this DA can currently order/ pre-order high-speed fibre broadband. Premises in the south of the village are in the Birr DA and the network build has commenced, with an anticipated connection timeframe for these premises of October 2025 - December 2025.