Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The reality that broadband is not available in parts of rural areas to the extent required by small and medium-sized enterprises. Poor quality and expensive rural broadband is inhibiting Ireland's recovery. I ask the Minister of State to request the CSO to carry out a survey of whether access is via fibre or by other means. If we had that we could at least deal with the question properly because fibre-based broadband is superior to other broadband supply.

Last week the Government took on board some of the Sinn Féin proposals on using the National Pensions Reserve Fund as a stimulus. Three years ago we suggested that part of that money be used to deal with the roll out of broadband throughout the country. We suggested that €2 billion be used to roll out next-generation broadband, which would obviously be concentrated on fibre. This would take us out of our position at the bottom of the league in Europe and in OECD countries. Will the Government take on board the Sinn Féin approach and invest in fibre-based broadband infrastructure to assist small and medium-sized enterprises and homes in general in accessing this much-needed technology? The future recovery of many of these companies needs to be based on that facility through the use of the stimulus package that is at long last coming on board with investment from the National Pensions Reserve Fund on something that will pay dividends to Ireland. We should invest properly in next-generation broadband.

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