Malcolm Byrne
Question:212. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport for an update on the implementation of national standards under the EU Gigabit Infrastructure Act. [44653/26]
View answerThursday, 11 June 2026
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The Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA) is a European regulation that came into force in May 2024, with the purpose of stimulating investment in Very High Capacity Networks, such as fibre and 5G network roll-out. Most of the provisions in the GIA took effect in November 2025 with all provisions fully effective by May 2026. However, national legislation is required to give effect to several discretionary provisions within the Act.
One such provision relates to Article 10 (4) of the Act which requires Member States to adopt the relevant standards or technical specifications that are necessary to ensure that all newly constructed buildings and buildings undergoing major renovation are equipped with a fibre-ready in-building physical infrastructure and in-building fibre wiring up to the physical point where the end user connects to the public network.
My Department launched a public consultation on this matter on 11 May this year, requesting feedback on proposals for in-building physical infrastructure and fibre wiring specifications. These proposals were reached after considerable stakeholder engagement, mainly via the GIA Steering Group, and input from subject matter experts, all of which has informed an expert report which has been published as part of the consultation process. The consultation will remain open until 22 June, and I encourage all interested parties to participate. After that date, my department will consider all submissions before a final version of the specifications is considered for legislation.
This consultation is in addition to a separate public consultation launched by my Department in December 2025 on exclusions to Single Information Point transparency obligations, which closed in February 2026. My Department is now working to finalise its position on this matter based upon the responses received from interested parties.