Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
114. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the roll-out of the national broadband plan in the Kilmeague area of County Kildare as of July 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40789/21]
View answer115. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the roll-out of the national broadband plan in the Allen area of County Kildare as of July 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40790/21]
View answer116. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the roll-out of the national broadband plan in the Milltown area of County Kildare as of July 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40791/21]
View answer117. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the roll-out of the national broadband plan in the Robertstown area of County Kildare as of July 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40792/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 114 to 117, inclusive, 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.
There are 96,038 premises in County Kildare of which 81,952 are in the commercial area and 14,086 premises are within the NBP Intervention Area. I am advised by National Broadband Ireland that, as of 21 July 2021, some 236,000 premises across all counties have been surveyed. In County Kildare, premises have been surveyed or surveys are ongoing in the areas of Killashee, Oughterard, Naas Rural, Rathmore, Kill, Kilteel, Carnalway, Gilltown, Ballymore Eustace, Bodenstown, Naas Urban, Newtown, Donaghcumper, Athy, Coneyboro, Aughaboura, Ballinapark, Castlemitchell, Bert, Kilberry, Kilkea, Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth. Areas which are close to the Wicklow border have commenced build works as part of the Blessington Deployment Area. The areas of Kilmeague, Allen, Milltown and Robertstown referred to by the Deputy are located in the Curragh Camp Intervention Area and I am advised by NBI that surveys are now complete in these areas.
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. My Department has worked closely with NBI to put in place a remedial plan under the Contract to address the impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic on the project.
Further details are available on specific areas within Kildare 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. I am advised that NBI plan to update their website with further details on the NBP rollout plan for all counties including Kildare at the end of August.
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 21 July, 336 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 Crookstown Further Education and Training and Community Centre, Bigstone Community Hall and Lullymore Heritage Park.
Saint David's National School and Rathmore 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/.
