Minister Eamon Ryan has confirmed that as of Wednesday (November 4), 187 sites have been installed by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) and almost 122,000 premises across 25 counties have been surveyed.
Speaking in the Dáil, the minister said the current deployment plan (National Broadband Plan – NBP) forecasts premises passed in all counties “within the first two years, and over 90% of premises having access to high-speed broadband within the next four years”.
The NBP is the government’s initiative to deliver high-speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland – the state intervention area includes over 537,596 premises, 54,000 farms and 1.1 million people.
NBI crews have started initial works for the network build in counties Cork, Galway, Limerick and Cavan, with the first fibre-to-the-home connection expected around December 2020 in Carrigaline.
The minister said:
“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 putting 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 throughout Ireland can avail of remote working, education and other essential online facilities.
Sinn Féin spokesperson on rural development Claire Kerrane has said that Covid-19 accelerated remote working and has “opened up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for rural towns and villages”.
“A recent report from the Regional Assemblies of Ireland published last month identified one in four private sector workers could be targeted for remote working, with even greater numbers when it comes to public service workers,” she said.
“In the north and west region alone, there are over 40,000 private sector workers identified. That would see 40,000 less commuters and 40,000 more people in their local communities and spending in their local economy.
This would be transformative for rural towns and villages and so, we need to take full advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I understand from the minister that an inter-departmental group has been established to look at the remote working hubs and have held their first meeting. They are due to report initially in early-mid 2021.
“I’ve asked that the group immediately look at where these hubs will be located and where possible, that they make use of already established premises that may be vacant and also that community centres be considered with the dual benefit of being a source of income for them.
“We know the difficulties that people in rural areas have faced during Covid when it comes to working from home and also, for children when schools were closed.
“We need to get this basic infrastructure in place and progress quickly with the roll-out of remote working hubs.”