Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have seen various initiatives, but there are still pockets of the country that have been left unprovided for. I know of some villages and towns in my county that have good broadband, but there is poor coverage just half a mile out the road from them. Some houses fall between one broadband-enabled exchange and another exchange that is not broadband-enabled. Small villages near towns often only had small exchanges and these have not been broadband-enabled. Unfortunately, pockets of the country are being left out.

Ms Donaghey made a good point that people can go to classes and get the skills, but are not able to use those skills at home to do the practical work. This is a serious issue. We need to pull together to resolve the issues. Local authorities, statutory agencies and national government all have a role to play on this. It will not happen if each sector leaves it to the other. Every month that goes by without a broadband service is a huge loss to households and business. This issue is of utmost importance. Like our Chairman, I represent a rural area, Cavan-Monaghan, where we have particular problems on account of the drumlins. It defies logic in this technologically advanced era that a hill can still stop a message from getting across to another area. This baffles me at times.