I propose to take Questions Nos. 285, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301 and 302 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 almost 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with some 679 schools.
NBI continues to make steady progress on the rollout of the NBP State led intervention, with over 319,000 premises surveyed and almost 172,000 premises under construction or complete across 26 counties, demonstrating that the project is reaching scale. NBI has also confirmed that as of 15 April 2022, almost 64,000 premises are now available to order or pre-order across 22 counties, with over 47,100 premises passed across 19 counties and available for immediate connection. NBI has further advised that 9,800 premises have been connected, as of 15 April, and this is increasing on a daily basis. To date, the level of connections is in line with projections and some areas are exceeding expectations.
My Department worked with NBI to agree an Updated Interim Remedial Plan (UIRP), which recalibrates the targets for 2022 to take account of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and other delays to the Programme, with a revised target of 102,000 premises passed by the end of January 2023 (Contract Year 3), which was agreed earlier this month. The focus for 2022 is to continue to build momentum and catch up on earlier delays. NBI has expressed confidence to my Department that it can achieve this target. My Department will continue to monitor closely the delivery of the NBP Programme and progress on the delivery of the UIRP targets over the course of 2022.
It remains the ambition of the Government to rollout the National Broadband Plan State led intervention as quickly as possible, and to achieve this NBI will continue its focus on addressing the delays which have arisen and ensuring that the build programme gets back on track and is building momentum month on month.