Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My issue follows on the one raised by Deputy Michael Moynihan. I thank the Minister for his presence and I am delighted to have the opportunity to raise this issue.

I am concerned that some of my constituents in Dublin Bay North and people on the northside of Dublin are not able to access fast and consistent broadband services. Residents in Bettyglen, Maywood and on the Howth Road in Raheny, Dublin 5 have contacted me about the poor quality broadband available to them, with many only having access to speeds of less than 3 Mbps. This is as a result of a delay in the roll-out of fibre-optic broadband in the area by eircom. As we know, Raheny is less than 5 km from the city centre, yet the broadband speeds available are extremely poor, prevent people from doing business from home and affect students in their education and access to the Internet. A constituent who is running a small business from his home has developed an online presence. He has told me he frequently works in and travels to Africa and that there faster broadband speeds in Malawi than in his home in Raheny. The delay has been caused by the refusal of Dublin City Council to grant a licence to eircom to construct an additional cabinet at the junction of Maywood Road and Maywood Grove in order to provide for a fibre-optic upgrade for Internet users in Bettyglen. I ask the Minister to intervene to ensure all councils work with providers - eircom in this case - to resolve these matters. Constituents are not getting answers from Internet providers, including eircom, UPC or Sky, on whether improved speeds will be available in the area soon. As Deputy Michael Moynihan said, people are continuing to pay very high monthly subscriptions - in this case, to eircom - for a poor service, while neighbours living a few roads away have a much better and speedier service.

Eircom informed me recently that while the area was set to receive eFibre services, it did not have a date for the provision of services. It states this is because of the uncertainty surrounding the placement of cabinets and the provision of electricity. Obviously, a compromise has to be reached on the provision of infrastructure to ensure customers receive a better service. Constituents in Howth, particularly on Windgate Road, where speeds of no more than 100 kbps are available, are concerned that they are not able to access the same service as neighbours on adjoining roads. These are professionals who are looking to do business and students who are trying to access various websites for educational purposes. I am sure the Minister will acknowledge that there are pockets in Dublin where there is a lack of services, which is very unfair. I very much welcome his response to the previous Topical Issue about the national broadband plan and the aim to ensure high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses, but there are issues and pockets where there are problems and I am glad to have the opportunity to highlight them directly with him. I know the State will only intervene to ensure access to broadband services in areas where the competitive market fails to deliver such services, but in this case a council is refusing to give planning permission for the provision of cabinets. I do not know if there is a section in the Minister's Department which would be able to deal with these very real issues in different parts of Dublin.

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