Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 July 2021
34. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications when the survey for fibre broadband will be undertaken for the townland of Gleneely, County Donegal; if it is planned to expedite this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36735/21]
View answer35. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications when surveys will be completed and fibre broadband rolled out across County Donegal by townland and yearly quarter in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36736/21]
View answerI propose to take Question Nos. 34 and 35 together.
The National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led Intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the Intervention Area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in the over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with 695 schools. All counties will see construction commenced in the first 2 years and over 90% of premises in the State will have access to high speed broadband within the next four years.
There are 102,833 premises in County Donegal of which 70,350 are in the commercial area and 32,483 premises are in the NBP Intervention Area. I am advised by National Broadband Ireland that, as of 1 July 2021, some 231,050 premises across all counties have been surveyed. In County Donegal, premises have been surveyed or surveys are ongoing in the areas of Milford, Letterkenny, Ramelton, Termon, Ballymacool, Kilmacrennan, Mullaghfin, Tommyscroft and Creeslough. I am advised that the townland of Gleneely is located in the Carndonagh Intervention Area and will be delivered with access to high speed broadband by NBI under the NBP.
There are 23 Deployment Areas covering the 32,483 premises to be served by the NBP in Co Donegal which will cover a large proportion of the over 2,700 townlands in Co. Donegal. Surveys are complete in the Letterkenny and Creeslough Deployment Areas which cover over 420 townlands and some 6,389 premises. Further information is available on NBI’s website, www.nbi.ie, which provides details of individual townlands. I understand that surveys are due to commence shortly in the Deployment Areas of Rutland Island, Inishfree and Arranmore. Surveys are pending in the remaining Deployment Areas and my Department does not have specific timings in relation to same.
While substantial progress has been made to date, the Covid 19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of the fibre network resulting in delays on delivery of aspects of the programme. Impacts include challenges with mobilisation of key contractors with restrictions on operations, supply chain and logistic delays (both nationally and internationally), as well as the recruitment of key personnel as NBI and its contractors scale, up including challenges associated with on-boarding and training people. Inevitably, like many other organisations, NBI and contractor staff are at risk of contracting Covid 19 or may have to restrict their movements as a result of being a close contact posing further challenges. The full extent of this impact is currently being assessed and NBI has committed to put in place measures to mitigate the impact in as far as possible.
Further details are available on specific areas within Donegal through the NBI website which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register their interest in being provided with deployment updates through its website www.nbi.ie. Individuals who register with this facility will receive regular updates on progress by NBI on delivering the network and specific updates related to their own premises when works are due to commence.
Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) are a key element of the NBP providing high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre to the home network. As of 1 July, 326 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and the high speed broadband service will be switched on through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly accessible locations and the Department of Education for schools. BCPs installed with high speed publicly accessible broadband include Dunree Military Museum, Rathlin Knitwear, Leghowney Community Centre, Malin Head, Meenreagh Hostel, The Gweedore Theatre, Cranford Coole Community Centre, Tory Co-Op, Sliabh Liag Ranger Station, and Ray Community Centre.
Scoil Naomh Cholmcille, Scoil Naoimh Colum, Doaghbeg National School, Urbalreagh National School, and Drumfad National School are installed as part of this initiative. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise schools with no high speed broadband, within the Intervention Area, for connection over the term of the NBP. In this regard, an acceleration of this aspect of the National Broadband Plan will see some 679 primary schools connected to high speed broadband by 2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026. Further details are available on the NBI website at nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.
