Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 February 2018
228. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on the status of the roll-out of the national broadband scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7263/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraDelivering high speed broadband to citizens across Ireland remains a firm commitment of mine and of this Government.
The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location. The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector. Today 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. By the end of this year that number will rise to nearly 8 out of 10 premises and by 2020, 9 out of 10 premises or 90% of premises will have access to a high speed broadband connection.
My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area, which aims to serve those premises where commercial investors will not. One company, eir, publicly withdrew from the procurement process on 30 January. While this is regrettable, it is a commercial decision for eir to make. The specialist NBP procurement team will continue to engage intensively with all relevant stakeholders, including the enet/sse consortium, to ensure the earliest possible achievement of the Government's objective of providing reliable high quality, high speed broadband to all premises in Ireland. When the procurement process reaches a satisfactory conclusion for Government, a contract will be awarded and the network rollout will commence.
In the interim, practical initiatives will continue to be addressed through the work of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce to address obstacles and improve connectivity in respect of existing and future mobile phone and broadband services.
Under this Taskforce, engagement between telecommunications operators and local authorities through the Broadband Officers is continuing to strengthen. These Broadband Officers are acting as single points of contact in local authorities for their communities. The appointment of these officers is already reaping rewards in terms of ensuring a much greater degree of consistency in engagements with operators and clearing obstacles to developing infrastructure. There is a link to a list of these local Broadband Officers on my Department's website.
