Fibre broadband now reaches 87% of premises in Ireland, and the National Broadband Plan is due to finish its main build in December 2026. These charts and maps show how the rollout has gone, county by county, and what speeds people buy.
Seven in ten home and business broadband lines in Ireland are now sold at 500 Mbps or more. ComReg, the communications regulator, says about 73% of fixed broadband lines were at that speed by the end of June 2026.
Mbps means megabits per second, a measure of how much data a connection can carry. A gigabit (Gbps) is 1,000 Mbps. Most of this speed comes from fibre to the premises (FTTP), a fibre-optic cable that runs all the way into the building.
Fibre now reaches most premises
In June 2026 FTTP was available at 87% of all premises in Ireland, ComReg says. In March 2025 the figure was 75.7%. Gigabit broadband, by fibre or cable, was available at 92% of premises.
Having fibre on the road does not mean people use it. At the end of June 2026, 53% of premises that could get FTTP had an active fibre service. In Meath, the highest county, take-up was 65% in March 2026.
Every county now has fibre at 77% of premises or more, ComReg said in March 2026. Westmeath had the highest coverage, at 95%. Leitrim had the biggest rise in a year, up 20 percentage points to 88%.
What speeds people buy
Most people now buy fast packages. In March 2026, 46.3% of fixed lines were sold at 500 to 999 Mbps.
Another 24.3% were sold at 1 to 2 Gbps. Only 3.9% were sold at under 30 Mbps.
There were 1.79 million fixed broadband lines in June 2026, up 4% in a year. The average home used 576 GB of data a month, up 16% on a year earlier.
The National Broadband Plan
The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the State's project to bring fibre to rural homes, farms and businesses that commercial companies would not serve. The contract was signed on 19 November 2019. The Government describes it as a €2.7 billion intervention.
- Premises in the plan area: about 566,000, up from 537,000 when the contract was signed.
- People who live in the area: about 1.1 million.
- Farms: over 65,000. Non-farm businesses: 44,000. Schools: 679.
- Minimum speed offered: 500 Mbps from the start.
- Public broadband connection points (such as community halls) connected: 283, by September 2025.
By July 2026, more than 183,000 premises in the plan area were connected. Average take-up was about 36%, the Government said, rising above 60% in areas served for longer.
Once the National Broadband Plan reaches your area, your home is connected.
The build brings fibre to your road or door. You still have to order a service from a broadband provider. By July 2026, about 36% of premises that could connect had done so.
When each county's build finishes
The main build is being finished county by county during 2026. Kilkenny was first. Limerick, along with Galway, Mayo and Cork, is scheduled to be last, in December 2026.
| Expected finish | Counties |
|---|---|
| June 2026 | Kilkenny, Longford |
| July 2026 | Tipperary, Waterford, Meath, Westmeath |
| August 2026 | Dublin |
| September 2026 | Monaghan, Laois, Leitrim, Sligo, Offaly, Kildare |
| October 2026 | Roscommon, Louth, Wexford, Cavan |
| November 2026 | Clare, Wicklow, Donegal, Carlow, Kerry |
| December 2026 | Galway, Mayo, Cork, Limerick |
| County | Premises in plan | State investment |
|---|---|---|
| Monaghan | 16,000 | €60m |
| Sligo | 15,000 | €59m |
| Kildare | 15,000 | €53m |
| Laois | 13,000 | €49m |
| Offaly | 13,000 | €48m |
| Leitrim | 12,000 | €46m |
| Wexford | 24,000 | €88m |
| Roscommon | 20,000 | €76m |
| Cavan | 17,000 | €65m |
| Louth | 9,000 | €33m |
“the National Broadband Plan is proving its value with expanding coverage and higher-than-expected user take-up”Minister Patrick O'Donovan, gov.ie press release, 1 October 2026
Home broadband by county in Census 2022
The census gives the only figure for every county on whether homes actually have broadband. In April 2022, 79.4% of households said they had a broadband connection, and 8.7% had no internet at home.
Kildare had the highest share, at 85.2%, then Dublin (84.3%) and Meath (84.0%). Longford had the lowest, at 71.5%, with Kerry at 72.7%.
In Leitrim, 14.4% of homes had no internet at all, the highest share of any county. These figures date from April 2022, and the NBP has since made fibre available to more than 500,000 premises.
Households with no internet connection at home in April 2022
Source: data.cso.ieMobile data and 5G
Many people also get online through their phone. There were 3.3 million 5G mobile subscribers in June 2026, up 54% in a year. 5G is the newest generation of mobile network, faster than 4G.
The Government's digital strategy aims for 5G coverage in all populated areas no later than 2030. Mobile data is growing fast, but home fibre still carries far more: the average home line used 576 GB a month.
What this means for you
- If you live in a rural area, the National Broadband Plan page on gov.ie explains the rollout and when your county is due to finish.
- Having fibre outside your door does not connect you. You need to order a service from a broadband provider.
- Compare the speed you pay for with what you use. Packages of 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps are the most common choice, ComReg's figures show.
- If you have a complaint about your broadband provider that it has not fixed, you can contact ComReg.
About these figures
- Coverage and speed figures are from ComReg and cover the end of each quarter.
- Sold speed is the speed in the package, not the speed tested in the home.
- NBP finish months are the Government's schedule, published on 1 September 2026. Kilkenny finished first, in June 2026, gov.ie says.
- Census broadband shares are of all households, including those that did not answer.
Galway, Mayo, Cork and Limerick are scheduled to finish the main NBP build, the last four counties.
The Government's digital strategy target: gigabit broadband for all households and businesses no later than 2028.
- gov.ie: National Broadband Plan
- gov.ie: Rollout of the National Broadband Plan
- gov.ie: The National Broadband Plan (publication)
- gov.ie: National Broadband Plan passes 500,000 premises as rollout enters final phase, 31 July 2026
- gov.ie: National Broadband Plan nears completion with September events, 1 September 2026
- gov.ie: National Broadband Plan reaches major county completion milestones with October events, 1 October 2026
- ComReg: Electronic Communications Sector Quarterly Report Q2 2026
- ComReg: Quarterly Key Data Report Q1 2026
- CSO: Census 2022, table SAP2022T15T2CTY, Households with internet access
