Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. Mr. Henry is correct in saying that broadband infrastructure and penetration are vital for industry and personal use. People have made decisions on where to live based on broadband availability, and newspaper property advertisements often refer to broadband availability. Given the difference between broadband availability in large urban areas and other areas, it could give rise to an urban-rural divide. Some people have been willing to take extreme measures to get broadband at home. People want to work from home and Mr. Henry spoke about the one day in 20. Many more people would work one or two days a week from home if they had the cover. There needs to be a drive to ensure every community has broadband cover. I believe the Minister referred to it as the electricity of this generation. We saw the consequences of some places such as the Black Valley in Kerry being left to the very end.

Ireland lies 17th out of 27 in the European league and other countries are far ahead of us, not just in the large urban centres but right across their communities. We need to work hard on the issue and raise it to the top of the agenda. Mr. Henry has presented figures on industrial employment and uptake of jobs and so on, which confirm my opinion that those are based on the large urban centres with connectivity to top of the range broadband facilities. If we are serious about having a balance across the population, this committee needs to put its energy into ensuring it is throughout the country.