Rural Broadband Investment

The Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD) has a number of initiatives to help the rollout of the National Broadband Plan.

Broadband officers are based in local authorities around the country. The role of the broadband officer is of vital importance as they provide a local point of contact for telecoms operators and the public regarding telecoms issues. They will also play the leading role in their local authorities as the National Broadband Plan is rolled out.

The department supports broadband officers with a grant of €42,000 per local authority. Regular meetings and information sessions will be organised for broadband officers and other local authority staff.

DRCD staff work closely with broadband officers, ensuring that they are kept informed of developments and are supported in their work.

If you wish to contact a broadband officer, please see the following link to find their contact information: Broadband officers contact list.

The Telecommunications Action Group (TAG) is made up of local authority broadband officers and DRCD staff.

TAG meetings are held regularly and provide an opportunity to discuss roll-out plans, recent events and share experiences and information. TAG meetings also offer an opportunity for broadband officers to network. This has led to a number of significant collaborations between local authorities and DRCD staff.

Broadband officers and DRCD staff work together on a number of projects which arise from TAG meetings, including a co-development initiative and Environmental Impact Assessments training for staff.

A working group made up of broadband officers, telecoms operators and DRCD are looking into the possibility of standard designs for telecoms infrastructure – for example underground ducts and chambers for fibre-optic cables.

DRCD has set up a sub-group of the TAG to develop guidance and a training programme for local authority staff around the issue of Environmental Impact Assessments in the context of the National Broadband Plan.

Local digital strategies set out each local authority’s digital ambitions – how they will use digital technology to make people’s lives better. They also set out what the local authority plans to do to make this happen.

Digital strategies set out improvements that will be made in a number of areas, including services that the local authority provides to the public, eCommerce, heritage and the arts and community supports.

Local authorities will be assisted as they plan for the future by commissioning research and the guidelines needed to put together local digital strategies. Some local authorities have already published their local digital strategies.