Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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311. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment for an update on the inclusion of larger rural towns such as Skerries in the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52736/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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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 Question refers to Skerries which is predominantly located in the AMBER area on the broadband map, which is available on my Department's website: www.gov.ie/en/publication/5634d-national-broadband-plan-map/

The AMBER area is to be served by the network deployed under the NBP State led intervention.

NBI have advised that the majority of premises in Skerries are ready for service, and 2,409 premises in the Skerries Deployment area are available to order / pre order. The remaining premises are currently undergoing survey work and have an anticipated date for connection of October 2026 - December 2026.

Commercial Fixed line operators are delivering high-speed broadband services in the blue area/ non-intervention area of the map. The activities of these commercial operators are not planned or funded by the State and the Department has no statutory authority to intervene in that regard.

The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available to the AMBER area can be found on National Broadband Ireland’s (NBI) website, at nbi.ie/map/. 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.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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312. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his Department has assessed the disparity in broadband access between urban centres and larger rural towns within County Dublin, such as Skerries; the steps being taken to ensure equitable digital infrastructure across the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52737/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to the rollout of highspeed broadband across the entire country, and indeed the National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland where the commercial telecom operators' reach will not extend.

Along with the NBP intervention contract (with National Broadband Ireland (NBI)), 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 2022 strategy are achieved.

The Question refers to Skerries which is predominantly located in the AMBER area on the broadband map, which is available on my Department's website: www.gov.ie/en/publication/5634d-national-broadband-plan-map/

The AMBER area is to be served by the network deployed under the NBP State led intervention.

NBI have advised that the majority of premises in Skerries are ready for service, and 2,409 premises in the Skerries Deployment area are available to order / pre order. The remaining premises are currently undergoing survey work and have an anticipated date for connection of October 2026 - December 2026.

Commercial Fixed line operators are delivering high-speed broadband services in the blue area/ non-intervention area of the map. The activities of these commercial operators are not planned or funded by the State and the Department has no statutory authority to intervene in that regard.

The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available to the AMBER area can be found on National Broadband Ireland’s (NBI) website, at nbi.ie/map/. 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.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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313. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the means by which his Department is co-ordinating with both National Broadband Ireland and commercial providers such as companies (details supplied) to avoid duplication and ensure efficient roll-out of fibre broadband in towns like Skerries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52738/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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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 mapping consultation between fixed line operators and the Department 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 National Broadband Ireland (NBI) network is deployed to premises in the Intervention Area where HSBB was not going to be delivered by commercial operators.

NBI are building an individual wholesale high speed fibre network to serve the NBP Intervention area, which includes 564K premises, equating to connecting circa 1.1 million people across Ireland.

Nationwide over 431,900K premises are Available to Order or Pre-Order today and the remaining premises are actively being progressed to the detailed build phases to ensure they are connected by the end of deployment. NBI have advised that the majority of premises in Skerries are ready for service, and 2,409 premises in the Skerries Deployment area are available to order / pre order. The remaining premises are currently undergoing survey work and have an anticipated date for connection of October 2026 - December 2026.

The Intervention Area is defined by reference to existing and planned commercial coverage, in line with EU State aid rules.

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.

Per records online at open-eir.webflow.io/fibre/broadband-checker, open eir have already passed over 1.4 million homes nationwide, and at siro.ie/roll-out/, SIRO has recently reached a milestone of enabling over 685,000 premises for full fibre. Virgin Media Ireland has reached a major milestone in its fibre upgrade programme with over 550,000 fibre homes constructed.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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314. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will publish quarterly progress reports on the fibre broadband roll-out in larger rural towns, including Skerries and Balbriggan; if he will ensure local representatives are kept informed of delays or changes to roll-out schedules; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52739/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to the rollout of highspeed broadband across the country, and indeed the National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland where the commercial telecom operators' reach will not extend.

Along with the NBP intervention contract (with National Broadband Ireland (NBI)), 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 2022 strategy are achieved.

Skerries is predominantly located in the AMBER area on the broadband map, which is available on my Department's website: www.gov.ie/en/publication/5634d-national-broadband-plan-map/

The AMBER area is to be served by the network deployed under the NBP State led intervention.

Balbriggan is largely in the BLUE area on the broadband 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.

National Broadband Ireland have advised that the majority of premises in Skerries are ready for service, and 2,409 premises in the Skerries Deployment area are available to order / pre order. The remaining premises are currently undergoing survey work and have an anticipated date for connection of October 2026 - December 2026.

The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available to premises in the Integration Area can be found on NBI’s website, at nbi.ie/map/. This website is regularly updated providing the expected timeline for delivery and status of any works that are initiated at any point in time.

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, or report in that regard. However, ComReg does provide an online tool to check on the available broadband options at a particular address. See: bbchecker.comreg.ie/

NBI is bringing fibre broadband to 564,000 premises across the Intervention Area. The rollout is divided into 227 Deployment Areas, each averaging 25 kilometres, although some extend beyond town boundaries due to network design.

NBI also has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.