A planned subsea fibre system connecting Galway with mainland Europe features in an Irish-projects update published by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency, HaDEA, on 6 October 2026. The agency describes PISCES as a west-coast connection supported through three projects under the Connecting Europe Facility’s digital programme. [1]

Its latest outline anticipates around 3,260 kilometres of optical fibre cables being deployed by 2028, connecting Galway with Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez in France and branches towards Bilbao and Lisbon. HaDEA says the system is expected to become available in 2029. Those are project expectations, rather than confirmation that a cable is operational today. [1]

Read the latest plan alongside the earlier study

The European Commission’s December 2024 project page describes preparatory work including route surveys, landfall studies and permitting. It listed a planned 2,800-kilometre system and named different Spanish and Portuguese landing locations. Its €8 million budget, including €4 million in CEF funding, concerned the study. It should not be presented as the cost of the entire system now described by HaDEA. [2]

Keeping the publication dates beside those figures avoids combining different stages of a project into one apparently settled specification. The October account is the source for the current route outline and expected availability used here.

What the connection would mean for Irish readers

HaDEA describes open-access fibre infrastructure and links with other international cable systems. The Commission’s earlier study explains the objective of a direct route between Ireland and mainland Europe. Together, those descriptions place the project in international data connectivity rather than the final connection into an individual house or shop. [1][2]

For a business or resident in Galway, three questions will be useful as the project develops: which milestones have been completed, which connections are actually available to customers, and how the service reaches the premises where it is needed. A proposed international link alone does not answer those questions or promise a particular broadband speed.

The next evidence to look for is a dated deployment or service announcement. Until then, the published timeline remains an expectation that should be read as such.