Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

National Broadband Plan

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Ceisteanna (89, 104, 160)

Joe Carey

Ceist:

89. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Climate Action and Communication Networks his plans to accelerate the national broadband plan to schools in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24989/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Joe Carey

Ceist:

104. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Climate Action and Communication Networks his plans to accelerate the national broadband plan to facilitate remote working in homes and business in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24990/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Cathal Crowe

Ceist:

160. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Climate Action and Communication Networks the progress being made on implementing the national broadband plan, with a particular emphasis on the roll-out of same in County Clare. [24365/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 89, 104 and 160 together.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led Intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract signed on 19 November last to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the Intervention Area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in the nearly 540,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with 695 schools.

The NBP network will offer users a high speed broadband service with a minimum download speed of 500Mbps from the outset. This represents an increase from the 150Mbps committed to under the Contract. The deployment plan forecasts premises passed in all counties within the first 2 years and over 90% of premises in the State having access to high speed broadband within the next four years.

Design work is complete or ongoing in target townlands across 21 counties and steady progress is being made with over 91,000 premises surveyed as of the 15 September. This survey work is feeding into detailed designs for each deployment area and laying fibre should commence shortly with the first fibre to the home connections expected around December.

In Clare surveys have commenced in the areas of Cratloe, Ballycannan, Ballyglas and Cloghrea and further surveys are due to commence in the areas of Kilkishen before the end of this year.  This involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area. This will enable design solutions for the provision of a fibre network.

Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) are a key element of the NBP providing high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre to the home network. Some 144 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and the high speed broadband service will be switched on in these locations through 'service provider' contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly available sites and by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) for schools.

There are a number of BCPs located across County Clare including at Caherconnell, Cree Community Centre, Loop Head and Michael Cusack Visitor Centre.  A number of schools  including Kilmurry McMahon, Shragh, Ennistymon and Stonehall National Schools will also be connected to high speed broadband as part of the BCP initiative.  Further details can be found at https://nbi.ie/bcp-locations/ . The Department will work with DES to prioritise the remaining schools to be connected over the term of the NBP.While substantial progress has been made to date, the Covid 19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of the fibre network. The extent of this impact is currently being assessed and NBI has committed to put in place measures to mitigate the impact in as far as possible.

The Covid 19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of good reliable broadband to ensure that citizens across Ireland can avail of remote working, education and other essential online facilities. This is reflected in the commitments in the Programme for Government where delivery of the National Broadband Plan will be a key enabler to many of the policies envisaged particularly around increased levels of remote working.

The Programme for Government has committed to seek to accelerate the roll out of the National Broadband Plan. In this regard, my Department continues to engage with NBI to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of this rollout to establish the possibility of bringing forward premises which are currently scheduled in years 6 and 7 of the current plan to an earlier date. Exploring the potential to accelerate the network rollout is being undertaken in parallel with the measures required to mitigate delays arising as a result of Covid-19.

Barr
Roinn