Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 May 2026
30. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he will provide an update on the roll-out of National Broadband Ireland and efforts being made to service rural and inaccessible parts of Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33293/26]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Government initiative to deliver high-speed broadband to all premises in Ireland. In addition, Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy published in December 2022, sets out a number of targets including that all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028.
National Broadband Ireland are connecting circa 3,500 homes each month and the forecasted 2026 average monthly net connection number is expected to be over 5,000 per month.
I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, over 465,810 premises are passed across all counties mainly in rural areas and are available for immediate connection with over 173,690 already connected. The remaining circa 85,000 premises will be passed by the end of the network deployment.
In the Deputy’s own county of Dublin, a significant investment of €48 million is being made under the NBP. There are over 10,390 premises passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and 11,403 premises available to order/pre-order, with over 3,060 premises now connected. A further circa 2,600 premises in County Dublin will be passed by NBI’s high speed fibre broadband by the end of the network deployment.
Currently, the NBP is expected to come in on time and under budget with the main infrastructure build on schedule to be complete by end of 2026.
The NBI rollout is split into 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) across Ireland and not limited to municipal districts due to network design. All 8 DAs in County Dublin are available to order/pre-order.
The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available can be found on National Broadband Ireland’s (NBI) website at https://nbi.ie/map/. This website is regularly updated providing the expected timeline for delivery and status of any works that are initiated at any point in time. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.
Alongside the NBP intervention contract, commercial operators continue to upgrade their networks throughout the State to primarily urban areas and contribute materially to achieving the Digital Connectivity Strategy targets by 2028.
My department is continuing to monitor these upgrades to ensure any unnecessary barriers to this investment are addressed so that the risk of any gigabit service challenged areas is mitigated.
