The Government has launched a consultation on international connectivity for telecommunications focusing on subsea cables.
All interested parties are being invited to contribute their views on the matter.
The consultation is primarily aimed at telecommunications service providers and large volume users of international links such as content providers and data centre owners.
The evidence gathered through the consultation will be used to inform Government policy development and decision making.
Subsea cables connect the Irish domestic terrestrial fibre network to cloud services and data resources around the world.
Minister of State for the Environment, Climate and Communications, with responsibility for Communications, Ossian Smyth welcomed the launch of the consultation.
"Ireland critically relies on international bandwidth from subsea cables for its economic development," Mr Smyth said.
"As technology develops, phenomena such as streaming, gaming, machine learning, the internet of things (IoT), big data, and autonomous vehicles will only increase the demand on bandwidth."
"These communication solutions are enabled by having high quality subsea digital connectivity, so I welcome the consultation and stakeholder engagement which aims to enhance our internet capacity and resilience," he added.
Ireland is currently pursuing a strategy to be a 'Gateway to Europe' for subsea telecommunications cables, which the Government said will see the country become a key international connectivity hub between North America and Europe.
