Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 April 2019
288. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has clarified with a company (details supplied) the number of properties now connected to fibre rather than passed in view of the removal of 300,000 properties from the national broadband plan as part of the fibre roll-out plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15826/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017, eir is in the process of passing 300,000 predominantly rural homes with high speed broadband. According to data for Q4 2018 submitted by eir to my Department the company has passed almost 225,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment.
Information on eir's rural deployment is available on that company’s website, http://fibrerollout.ie/Eircode-lookup/. A copy of the Commitment Agreement is available on my Department’s website, www.dccae.gov.ie.
In accordance with the Commitment Agreement, officials from my Department engage regularly with eir in relation its ongoing reporting requirements under its deployment. As part of this engagement eir provides my Department with detailed information on premises connected on a monthly and quarterly basis. While the company does not publish this information and considers it commercially sensitive, it has stated publicly that take up on the network is in line with the trajectory anticipated when the company planned this investment.
