91 Deputy Joanna Tuffy asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the percentage of households that have access to high speed broadband in County Meath; the list of areas in County Meath that are covered by the rural broadband scheme; the list of areas that do not have access to high speed broadband in County Meath in tabular form; the date on which all areas in County Meath are expected to have full high speed broadband coverage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3996/11]

The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband services, is a matter for private sector service providers operating in a liberalised market regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). Broadband services are provided by private service providers over various platforms including DSL (i.e. over telephone lines), fixed wireless, mobile, cable, fibre and satellite. ComReg's website www.callcosts.ie provides detailed information on the various private sector telecommunications products and services available on a county by county basis, including County Meath.

While my Department does not hold information on broadband penetration by region, ComReg publishes quarterly statistical reports on national developments in the fixed-line, mobile and broadband communications markets.

These reports demonstrate the significant progress in broadband roll-out over recent years. At the end of June 2010 Ireland had in the region of 1.48 million broadband subscriptions and narrowband connections had reduced to less than 5% of all Internet connections. The year-on-year growth in subscriptions over the preceding 12-month period from June 2009 was over 16.5%.

Broadband services are now available throughout the entire National Broadband Scheme (NBS) area. A list of the Electoral Divisions (EDs) covered by the NBS in County Meath is provided.

However, despite Government and private investment in broadband, I am aware that there continues to be a small percentage of premises throughout the country that will not be capable of receiving broadband services. This is primarily due to technical and other reasons (suitability of a telephone line, distance from an enabled exchange, no line of sight etc.).

The European Commission has set aside a portion of the European Economic Recovery Programme (EERP) funding for rural broadband initiatives. Using this funding, which will be augmented by an Exchequer contribution, I intend, to formally launch a new Rural Broadband Scheme aimed at providing a basic broadband service to individual un-served rural premises outside of the NBS areas.

There will be a competitive process to engage a service provider who will offer a broadband service to qualified applicants under the scheme. While the exact details have yet to be finalised, I expect that the service offered under this scheme would at least match the service offered under the NBS. This process will be technology neutral — it will be a matter for the bidders to decide which technical approach they propose in their bids.

Information in relation to acceptance of applications and the process of qualification under the scheme will be made available in due course when the scheme is launched.