Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 June 2016
504. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to conduct a review of public access to broadband within State-owned public hospitals, primary care centres, public libraries, Intreo centres, Garda stations and county council offices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16937/16]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the delivery of the NBP as a matter of priority. This is being achieved through private investment by commercial telecommunications companies and through a State intervention in areas where commercial investment is not forthcoming.
The Government's NBP intervention will ensure the availability of quality future-proofed broadband services to all other parts of the country. Over 750,000 premises are the focus of the procurement process, which formally commenced in December 2015 with the publication of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire ('PQQ') and Project Information Memorandum.
The second stage in the procurement process will be a formal invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to qualifying bidders, following the assessment of responses to the PQQ stage. I expect that my Department will move to this stage in the next month. The third stage of the procurement process involves the issue of final tender documentation which follows the dialogue process. Following the submission of final tenders by bidders, a winning bidder(s) will be selected for the contract(s) which will comprise one or two lots as set out in the NBP Intervention Strategy. The Department will then enter into formal contract negotiations with the winning bidder(s). It is expected that contract(s) will be awarded by June 2017.
As part of the competitive process, the Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best roll-out strategy, in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and / or high demand. This will need to be balanced with the most efficient network roll-out plan. A prioritisation programme will be put in place in this regard, in consultation with the Minister for Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys. A detailed roll-out plan for the network will be published once contract(s) are in place.
My Department’s current priority in this area is to complete all elements of the procurement phase of the NBP market intervention in order to ensure all property owners or occupiers who wish to access high-speed broadband can do so as soon as possible. It is a matter for the individual State-owned agencies and centres to decide whether they wish to provide public access to broadband within their respective buildings.
The Minister, Deputy Humphreys is leading on the establishment of county or regional broadband action groups, working with Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Offices, LEADER Groups and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract(s) has been awarded. It is open to Local Authorities and other entities developing these strategies to consider whether broadband services should be made available in public offices as part of their wider Regional Digital Strategies.
