In December 2022, my Department published Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy which supports the ambition outlined in the National Digital Strategy and sets out a number of ambitious targets, including that:
• all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028
• all populated areas will be covered by 5G no later than 2030, and
• digital connectivity will be delivered to all schools and broadband connection points by 2023
These targets will be achieved through commercial operators investing in their networks, complemented by the State’s National Broadband Plan intervention. When taken together, all premises in the State will have access to high-speed broadband in every part of the country no matter how remote.
Commercial operators’ fibre rollouts are progressing at pace. Open eir have already passed over 59,200 homes and businesses in County Kildare with gigabit services, with plans to pass a further c. 31,800 homes and businesses over the next 2 – 3 years, bringing their total fibre-based investment in the county to over €35m. Other commercial operators are also continuing to increase their network footprint right across Kildare, with SIRO recently passing over 40,100 premises for full fibre, and Virgin Media passing over 52,900 premises.
Having checked the details of the estate referred to in the question on the Department’s High Speed Broadband (HSBB) Map, I can confirm that it is located in a BLUE area. BLUE areas are parts of the country where commercial operators are already providing high speed broadband or have indicated future plans to do so.
The Department’s technical team have carried out analysis on the estate and advise that speeds of between 25-40Mbps should be available to all premises within the estate.
Due to the age of the estate there may be no ducting in place to individual premises and therefore the commercial operators such as eir and Siro may not have immediate plans to upgrade the estate to full fibre broadband. However, we understand from engagement with commercial operators that there is still a high likelihood that they will rollout fibre to the estate in question and the Department will continue to engage with operators on these plans. As noted above, eir has plans to upgrade a further 31,800 premises in Kildare and we understand this estate is within those plans.
