Dara Calleary TD has received confirmation from National Broadband Ireland that fibre build works are well underway in the Ballina area.
He said: "NBI, the company rolling out the new high-speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP ) has informed me that in Ballina, over 2,600 premises have been surveyed to date with network designs completed to deliver the new Fibre to the Home (FTTH ) network in the area with an anticipated date for connection.
"NBI crews have started initial works for the build in townlands across Ballina. These ‘make ready’ works pave the way for the next stage of deploying fibre on poles/ducts, and include the erection of poles, unblocking of ducts, and the insertion of subduct into existing ducts, for the fibre to be installed.
"The NBI website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at https://nbi.ie/eoi/ is the easiest way to get the most up-to-date status of premises during the rollout and when premises will be ready for order.
"In Mayo, there are 36,758 premises in the Intervention Area (IA ), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. This equates to 44% of all premises in the county. Under the National Broadband Plan, Mayo will see an investment of €145m in the new high speed fibre network. This will enable e-learning, remote monitoring of livestock or equipment, e-health initiatives, better energy efficiency in the home, and facilitate increased levels of remote working.
"While it is good news that works are well advanced in the Ballina area, I am very conscious that the speed of works needs to be accelerated throughout the county.
"I recently was quoted a connection timeframe of between January 2025 and December 2026 for specific areas in East Mayo – areas where industry and commercial business is thriving and where high speed broadband is a necessity – such time frames are quite frankly not acceptable. I have raised this with the Government in Dáil Éireann and will continue working towards a more efficient rollout across Mayo."
