Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 February 2018
529. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the steps being taken to tackle the problem of mobile phone coverage black spots in rural areas in the context of his Department's co-chairing of the mobile phone and broadband taskforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8502/18]
View answerThe Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce was established in July 2016 to examine broadband and mobile phone coverage deficits in Ireland and identify tangible actions to improve the quality of these services.
The Taskforce Report was published in December 2016, and included 40 actions to alleviate barriers to mobile phone reception and broadband access. An Implementation Group was established in 2017 to oversee the delivery of actions in the Taskforce’s report and progress updates are published on my Department's website on a quarterly basis.
With regard to mobile phone black spots, my officials in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, are actively engaged with local authorities and mobile phone operators to identify priority black spots and take action to address this issue.
During 2017 officials from both Departments worked with a group of local authorities to identify the issues associated with mapping local black spots. This pilot exercise has been completed, with all local authorities now being asked to map local black spots and identify infrastructure that could potentially be used to provide additional coverage.
This work will continue in 2018 and has been included as an action in this year's work programme of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce Implementation Group.
In addition, ComReg will shortly launch a scheme for the use of mobile phone repeaters, which will allow householders and businesses to boost signals into their premises, and bring immediate improvements in mobile phone coverage.
