Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

If we are serious about regional rebalancing and jobs in rural Ireland, the issue of rural broadband must be addressed. I know the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, wants to try to speed up the roll-out of rural broadband from seven years to five years. I believe that with the help of the Tánaiste, we might get it done even faster than that. It is so important. Even five years seems like a ridiculous amount of time to have to wait. I know it takes time for it to be physically rolled out but I cannot over-emphasise how important it is to get broadband into rural Ireland. I worked from home for the past 14 years. Members would not believe the stress I had. At one stage I had to hold my laptop above my head. The digital hubs are brilliant and have a significant part to play. Even if one works from home, one needs to go to somewhere to meet people. Digital hubs are amazing and good work has been done on them by the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys. If the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, wants to try to speed up the roll-out of rural broadband, the more Ministers who can get involved in making that happen, the better. It is key to everything happening in rural Ireland.