Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2024
169. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the reason An Rinn in County Waterford is not included in the national broadband plan; the steps that can be taken by families and businesses in An Rinn that wish to access high-speed data; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22926/24]
Amharc ar fhreagra170. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications in view of the lack of national broadband access in An Rinn, County Waterford, if he will advise alternative providers that can possibly provide a service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22927/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 169 and 170 together.
The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland.
The area in question is in the BLUE area on the broadband map. The BLUE area represents those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high-speed broadband services. The Department defines high-speed broadband as a connection with minimum speeds of 30Mbps download and 6Mbps upload.
The activities of commercial operators delivering high-speed broadband within BLUE areas are not planned or funded by the State and the Department has no statutory authority to intervene in that regard. There may be a choice of operators offering this service in any given area. Further information in this regard is available at www.comreg.ie/compare/#/services.
If a person lives in the BLUE area and after contacting their Retail Service Provider are told they cannot get access to greater than 30Mbps, they should raise a query via the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) webform at: secure.dccae.gov.ie/forms/NBP-Customer-Service.aspx. The department will escalate with the commercial operator to investigate this matter further.
As per records made available to this department there are premises within An Rinn which currently have full fibre available to them. The remainder of premises in the area are included in open eir's Full Fibre deployment programme which will provide a full fibre gigabit connection with speeds up to 2GBps.
Commercial operators’ fibre rollout plans are progressing at pace. Open eir have already passed over 38,700 homes and businesses in County Waterford with gigabit services, and have plans to pass a further 15,300 homes and businesses. Other commercial operators are also continuing to increase their network footprint right across Waterford, with SIRO recently passing over 12,600 premises for full fibre, and Virgin Media passing over 30,600 premises.
