Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

706. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his attention has been drawn to concerns related to the poor availability of high-speed broadband an area (details supplied); the actions he will take to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29524/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

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

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 mapping consultation between fixed line operators and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications was concluded in 2019.

As part of this mapping consultation the three large, fixed line operators (Open Eir, Virgin Media and Siro) were asked to submit their current High-Speed Broadband (HSBB) coverage maps and potential future maps for HSBB. At the time HSBB was defined as a fixed line technology that could deliver 30Mbps or greater download speed and 6Mbps or greater upload speed.

Resulting from the analysis of this data, the NBI network is deployed to premises in the Intervention Area where HSBB was not going to be delivered by commercial operators.

The area referred to in the question is in the BLUE area on the broadband map which is available on www.gov.ie/en/publication/5634d-national-broadband-plan-map/.

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 the Department has no statutory authority to intervene in that regard.

As per records available on the vast majority of premises in the location have access to high-speed broadband with speeds up to 1Gbps.

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 webform which can be accessed by clicking on “contact us” in the Contact section on and the Department will escalate with the commercial operator to investigate this matter further.