1631. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport for an update on the rollout of highspeed broadband in Tipperary; the number of premises in Tipperary still awaiting a connection; the anticipated completion date for fibre broadband rollout in Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61801/26]

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.

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

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.

In the Deputy’s own county of Tipperary, a significant investment of €118 million has been made under the NBP and the main build works were completed in July. The rollout in County Tipperary includes 30,625 premises passed across 21 DA’s all of which have a status of available to order / pre-order high speed fibre broadband, with 12,031 premises now connected.

Additional premises e.g. new build homes are added to the Intervention (Amber) area through the quarterly geodirectory updates. As provided for in the contract signed on 19 November 2019 between the Department and National Broadband Ireland (NBI), there is an obligation on NBI to pass premises added to the Intervention Area for the duration of the contract.

A further approx. 200 premises in County Tipperary will be passed by NBI’s high speed fibre broadband by the end of the network deployment.

The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available can be found on National Broadband Ireland’s (NBI) website at https://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 Tipperary ensuring the targets set out in the Digital Connectivity Strategy are achieved. These plans will see improved high speed broadband access across County Tipperary.