Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 September 2020
19. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Community and Rural Development and the Islands her plans to improve connectivity and infrastructure for rural areas in County Cork, particularly those that recently moved into the city boundary under the boundary changes. [24332/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe provision of telecommunications services is a matter for commercial providers operating in a liberalised market. Nonetheless, under the National Broadband Plan (NBP), the Government will fund the provision of a high-speed broadband network in areas where it is not commercially viable for service providers to do so.
The NBP network, which comes under the remit of Minister Eamon Ryan’s Department, will be rolled out to almost 540,000 premises across the country.
In parallel, my Department has been working closely with Local Authorities to identify Broadband Connection Points which will make free on-site connectivity available to communities in remote rural areas, including in County Cork. The BCPs will be situated in publicly accessible buildings such as sports clubs and community centres and will be amongst the first premises to be connected under the National Broadband Plan.
Over the coming months, approximately 300 Broadband Connection Points will be provided with a high speed connection. The locations of the BCPs are available on the website of National Broadband Ireland, at www.nbi.ie.
Many of the BCPs will facilitate remote working which I believe has the potential to transform rural Ireland, allowing people to build careers in good quality jobs while continuing to live in their home place.
