Vol. 552 No. 1
110 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if Sligo town and its environs are in phase one of the nationwide broadband roll-out; if she will give a commitment that the town will be included; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11680/02]
Under the e-commerce measure of the National Development Plan 2000-2006, 31 submissions were received under the second call for proposals by the deadline of 19 October 2002. These submissions were independently evaluated and the results of evaluation were finalised at the beginning of this year.
On foot of the evaluation a number of local authorities have been asked to enter procurement to establish firm prices for their proposals. Once procurement is completed, and subject to satisfactory pricing, contracts will be offered for these projects. It is anticipated that this will take place over the next two months. These proposals involve the construction of metro area fibre optic networks in 19 towns around the country. No proposal was received in respect of Sligo. Networks in other towns are under discussion with the relevant local authorities.
Arising from the Government strategy which I announced on 8 March last a second phase of 48 additional towns will be pursued through a public private partnership model. Sligo is one of those towns.
