Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the invitation to appear before the committee today. The decision to move ahead with the national broadband plan is of great importance. Some 1.1 million people are disenfranchised at the moment. They do not have equality of opportunity or the potential to develop. Certain small businesses and farmers cannot join the digital age.

As Minister of State with responsibility for our digital strategy, I have put in place many of the plans necessary to prepare for the roll-out of broadband. We have broadband officers in every county. They are working to identify what is needed there. That is a key part of what we are doing now.

The 760 national schools without broadband are not providing education in the way other schools are. This cannot continue and we need to get on with this.

At the end of the day we need to create equality of opportunity. I am chairman of the Atlantic economic corridor task force, which is charged with providing economic development as a counterbalance to the overdevelopment on the east coast. We can only achieve that by ensuring we give every opportunity to everybody.

Some 10,000 people in Dublin do not have access to broadband. The issue goes across the country. We have published a map which shows the yellow area. Some 83% of the land mass has to be covered by broadband. This is a major project which presents a big challenge for us. However, we need to do it if we are to move forward and continue to lead in the area of digitalisation of the country. This is about creating the jobs of the future.