National plan for broadband set to accelerate, says Minister

The National Broadband Plan will "accelerate" and catch up with missed timelines, but not until 2023, Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has said.

Speaking to the Oireachtas communications committee on the National Development Plan, Mr Ryan said the project has been set back by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as technical issues to do with planning law and ducting for high-speed broadband.

"This is always the case with big projects like this, particularly in technology, in telecoms, you always have things to overcome, once we overcome those I think we will accelerate," he said, adding that it would be some time before National Broadband Ireland (NBI) caught up with the original development timeline.

“I would imagine it would be the following year, not next year,” the Green Party leader said he was told by his officials.

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Sinn Féin TD for Louth Ruairí Ó Murchú said this matched previous timelines sketched out by NBI, the consortium overseeing the project. The plan is to have revised timelines for building out the project by March 2022.

Mr Ó Murchú said resources had to be made available so the project could move forward at pace.

“We have said from the very beginning that acceleration is the name of the game and if there’s resources NBI need, then the logic is the Minister needs to move whatever he needs to move to make that happen.”

Quality of ducting

At the committee, Mr Ryan said the project had been slowed down by difficulties associated with bringing contractors into the country due to the pandemic, and also section 254 planning guidelines which cover the construction of poles. He said while these issues have largely been resolved, another one relating to the quality of ducting – the pipes through which high-tech wires run underground – remains an issue.

“A lot of ducting which is not as accessible as originally been projected and the levels of that problem are higher than what was originally expected and that’s caused a real difficulty which has to be overcome. It still hasn’t been and it needs to be,” he said.

In time, the benefits of the project would be massive, said the Minister.

“We are within grasp of the prize of having probably the most comprehensive fibre connectivity right across the country . . . This is a project that delivers real value for money.”

Asked about a report in the Business Post newspaper last weekend that said taxpayers are subsidising the rollout of broadband to 45,000 premises already covered by commercial operators, Mr Ryan replied that he had a briefing with his officials earlier on Wednesday regarding the issue.

“I asked my department that question this morning and they came back with real reassurance that they were very confident the proper contract approach has been taken and there is due diligence.”