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National Broadband Plan

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 October 2021

Tuesday, 5 October 2021

Questions (102)

Alan Dillon

Question:

102. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his Department along with NBI has engaged with companies (details supplied) or any other third-party contractor to expand and accelerate the National Broadband Plan contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47727/21]

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Written answers

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 some 699 schools.

I am advised by NBI that, as 24 of September, over 257,000 premises across all counties have been surveyed with over 108,000 premises under construction in Counties Cork, Cavan, Galway, Limerick and Monaghan. 

In addition to the challenges to the delivery of the NBP due to the Covid-19 pandemic, NBI has faced a range of other challenges due to the sheer scale and complexity of rolling out fibre to the home in a rural environment. These include significant tree trimming to ensure cable can be placed on overhead poles, remediation of ducting that has been in place for many decades, the co-ordination of hundreds of contracting crews and addressing the many issues arising week on week which could not have been foreseen until the build crews commenced work on the ground. My Department has worked closely with NBI to put in place a remedial plan under the Contract. This plan addresses delays experienced by NBI, primarily arising as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and re-baselines milestones for 2021. Work is underway to re-baseline milestones for 2022 and beyond.

In line with the Programme for Government, NBI and my Department are also engaged in a review of potential measures that can be taken to accelerate the network rollout in parallel with the measures required to mitigate delays arising as a result of Covid-19. My Department continues to engage with NBI to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of the NBP rollout to establish the possibility of bringing forward premises which are currently scheduled in years 6 and 7 of the current plan to an earlier date. As part of that work NBI is engaging with current build partners (eir and enet) to bring forward build activities and is also actively reviewing other possible build partners where such options could also speed up the build process. However, the primary focus must be on addressing the delays which have arisen and ensuring that NBI's build programme gets back on track and is building momentum month on month.  

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 was announced in December which 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.

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