239. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the number of premises in County Clare connected under the National Broadband Plan to date; the number remaining; the scheduled works for the remainder of 2026; and the projected completion timeline for the county. [53842/26]

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Government initiative to deliver high-speed broadband to all premises in Ireland. In addition, Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy published in December 2022, sets out a number of targets including that all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028.

In the Deputy’s own county of Clare, a significant investment of €89 million is being made under the NBP. There are 19,990 premises passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and 20,851 (90%) premises available to order/pre-order, with 6,916 premises now connected. A further circa 3,000 premises in County Clare will be passed by NBI’s high speed fibre broadband by the end of the network deployment.

Currently, the NBP is expected to come in on time and on budget with the main infrastructure build on schedule to be complete by end of 2026.

The NBI rollout is split into 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) across Ireland and not limited to municipal districts due to network design.

The rollout in County Clare includes the DA’s of Corofin, Dunry, Feakle, Gort, Kilkishen, Kilrush, Labasheeda, Limerick, Milltown Malbay, Newport, Ogonnelloe, Rahey Cross and Tiermaclane, all of which are available to order / pre-order.

Network build is in progress for the DA of Lisdoonvarna (2,319 premises) which has an anticipated date of connection of July to November 2026. Network build is also in progress in the DA’s of Ballinderry (2 premises) and Behagh (537 premises) which have an anticipated date of connection of October to December 2026.

The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available can be found on National Broadband Ireland’s (NBI) website, at nbi.ie/map/. This website is regularly updated providing the expected timeline for delivery and status of any works that are initiated at any point in time. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.

Along with the NBP intervention plan, progress is being made by commercial operators in expanding their next generation networks throughout the country including the deputy’s own county of Clare ensuring the targets set out in the Digital Connectivity Strategy are achieved. These plans will see improved high speed broadband access across County Clare.