Tá fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Glaoim ar an Seanadóir Costello.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in today. I raise the issue of the need for her to set out clearly what is being done to improve Internet access across rural areas. It is a real and practical problem for people in rural areas. In my constituency, an area called Bohernabreena is severely affected. Many residents and farmers there continue to experience very poor and unreliable broadband. This is now creating serious day-to-day difficulties. One serious issue that has been brought to my attention is that of people struggling to access the AgFood and other online agricultural systems that are now required for farming payments and compliance. When the Internet connection is slow or drops out, people cannot log in, pages time out and applications cannot be completed. For example, AgFood requires a two-step verification, and by the time the verification text arrives, the application has timed out, preventing the farmer from logging in. These systems are no longer optional, but essential. They are being designed under the assumption that everyone has a fast, reliable Internet connection, but that is simply not the case in many rural communities. This is not just inconvenient, but puts people at a real disadvantage.

This problem is affecting vital local services as well. The local community centre is directly impacted by poor Internet access. On Friday, I witnessed that for myself when an issue arose where the broadband disruption affected the running of the centre. Staff were unable to carry out basic administrative tasks, bookings were disrupted, and some services could not be provided to local people. I witnessed a staff member trying to get a resolution. It was a level of disruption and frustration that was really unfair. This shows very clearly that poor connectivity is not only affecting individual households or farmers, but limiting what community facilities can deliver for residents.

We often talk about the digital divide between rural and urban areas, but it is important to understand how serious this divide actually is. In 2024, the Economic and Social Research Institute published a paper, called “Exacerbating the Divide? Investigating Rural Inequalities in High Speed Broadband Availability”. The findings of the research were very clear. They showed that Ireland did not have a slow or gradual digital divide. Instead, researchers described it as a binary divide. In simple terms, areas either have very good broadband coverage or almost none at all. The paper shows that more than 70% of small rural areas have broadband coverage of 10% or less, and at the same time, almost 90% of small urban areas have coverage of 90% or more. While most urban communities are fully serviced by commercial broadband providers, the majority of rural communities are being left behind. The research also highlights an important point that within areas that have poor connectivity, certain groups may be at even more of a disadvantage, including older people, low-income households and people who rely heavily on online public services. This is particularly relevant for farmers and rural workers who must now use online services to carry out basic administrative tasks.

At European level, there is a clear recognition of how important digital connectivity is. European policy aims to ensure that households, schools, businesses and public services all have access to high-speed broadband and modern mobile coverage. In Ireland, the Government has acknowledged that the market alone will not deliver broadband to many rural areas. That is why the national broadband plan was introduced in 2019, to allow the State to support the roll-out of high-speed broadband in areas where it was not commercially viable.

Under the Government's digital Ireland strategy, the target is that all household and businesses will have access to gigabit broadband by 2028 and all populated areas will have 5G coverage by 2030. These are welcome and ambitious targets. However, for people living in places like Bohernabreena, they can feel very distant. What matters to residents, farmers and community groups now is whether they can connect today, whether the service is reliable and whether essential services continue to operate properly. For many people, the answer to this is "No".

I ask the Minister of State to outline in clear and practical terms what steps are being taken to address poor broadband coverage in rural communities, how delivery on the national broadband plan is being accelerated in areas that remain underserved, and what specific measures are being taken to ensure that communities such as Bohernabreena and facilities like the community centre are not left behind.

I thank the Senator for raising this incredibly important issue. As somebody who is from the very rural constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, I understand the issue she has raised for people living in rural parts, particularly the farming community. So much of our lives is now transported into a digital area. We are expected to be able to adapt, put many of our public services online and be able to facilitate that. It is important as a Government that we are committed to that digital transformation. It is equally important that we be in a position to provide that Internet and broadband access that is required in rural parts, not just in urban. As the Senator said, it is not or should not be binary as to whether a person has really good or bad access.

We need to ensure that everyone has equal access because people risk being left behind if they do not. I thank the Senator for raising this very important matter. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, who is answering questions in the Dáil at the moment.

Ensuring that all communities across Ireland, including those in rural and more remote areas, can access high-speed broadband is a key priority for the Minister and the Government. Ireland’s digital connectivity strategy, published in December 2022, sets ambitious targets including the provision of a gigabit network to all households and businesses in Ireland by 2028 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030. As the Senator quite rightly said, these are ambitious targets that we intend to achieve.

The Programme for Government: Securing Ireland’s Future, published in January 2025, sets out a number of targets, which include the completion of the installation of high-speed fibre broadband connections to 1.1 million people across homes, farms and businesses nationwide by 2026. The national broadband plan, NBP, is the Government’s initiative to deliver high-speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland. The Government identified a need to deliver broadband services where commercial operators would not operate, such as in parts of rural Ireland. As part of the NBP, the Government appointed National Broadband Ireland to deliver a future-proofed high-speed broadband network to those parts of the country, primarily in rural areas, not served by commercial operators. I am advised by NBI that over 451,557 premises across all counties have now been passed and immediate connection is available to them, with over 166,000 already connected. Deployment momentum is strong, and the main infrastructure build is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026, as per the programme for Government commitment. The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available in an intervention area can be found on NBI’s website. NBI also has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Seanad Members across the House for specific queries.

Under the NBP contract, NBI is required to reuse existing third-party infrastructure, including poles, ducting and chambers, where possible. Where repairs or replacements are required, NBI provides the necessary details and requests these works through an agreed process with the owner of the infrastructure. Once the works have been completed, the owner of the infrastructure notifies NBI, and the infrastructure is then approved for use by NBI. The latter advises that 100% of the third-party infrastructure that NBI intends to use as part of the roll-out has been surveyed and that 96% of the required remedial works have now been completed. This infrastructure is either already in use or is actively being brought into use as part of NBI’s deployment, with the remaining 4% to be completed by the end of this year. The NBP's deployment remains on schedule and within its approved financial budget, reflecting robust programme governance, disciplined cost control and effective delivery oversight.

The NBP was established to bridge that digital divide we spoke about and to ensure that all regions, including rural and small-town areas, have access to high-speed broadband infrastructure. The NBP delivers more than just connectivity. It drives economic growth, social inclusion and community development by enabling remote work, digital learning, telehealth and new business opportunities, while strengthening regional skills, innovation and quality of life. As all of us here in the House know, it also ensures the regional development we all feel so passionate about.

Along with the NBP intervention contract, substantial progress is being made by commercial operators in upgrading their networks throughout the State and ensuring the targets set out in the digital connectivity strategy are achieved. I have run out of time. I will hand back to the Senator to conclude.

I thank the Minister of State. I am glad that progress is being made. I will be making use of the email address for representatives to follow up because what I witnessed on Friday was chaotic. It showed terrible shortcomings for a rural area. I stood in a room with approximately 20 farmers who were suffering with poor Internet connections, which is a barrier to accessing the agrifeed system. In what other industry would you have 20 business owners who cannot access a basic service to carry out their work? It was very unfair on them. I committed to following up on that, so I will be making use of the email address. I ask the Minister of State to pass on my points about what I witnessed at first hand in Bohernabreena to the Minister.

I absolutely commit to sharing the experience of the farmers in the Senator's local area with the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, to ensure something like this does not happen again and to see if any specific issue arose in that particular area. As the Senator stated, this involved 20 incredibly important businesspeople in the local area. I want to ensure we drive delivery of high-speed broadband, particularly across rural and remote areas. In urban areas, there are other ways of communicating but it is not so easily done in rural constituencies and regions like the Senator's and mine. I will absolutely share that with the Minister.

Along with the NBP intervention contract, commercial operators continue to upgrade to achieve the targets of the digital connectivity strategy. Commercial operators have indicated that all of their networks within urban areas will be upgraded by 2028. The Department is continuing to monitor these upgrades to ensure any unnecessary barriers to this investment are addressed to mitigate the risk of there being areas where the availability of gigabit connectivity services is limited. These measures include making the process to access existing infrastructure easier and ensuring new housing developments are designed to facilitate telecommunications connectivity from the outset. I am sure in five years' time, or probably less, we will look back and think it archaic to have had to have those discussions and debates but here we are.

The implementation of the NBP plan continues to align with the delivery schedule and approved funding parameters. The main infrastructure build remains on track for completion by the end of this year. I am satisfied that the programme is advancing steadily and meeting its key milestones. I again thank Senator Costello for raising this incredibly important issue.