Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a simple fact that rural areas need State intervention if they are to provided with high speed broadband. The Minister will note recent figures released by the IDA indicating that it is missing its own targets on investment in areas outside Dublin and Cork. That means rural Ireland is missing out. Leaving aside companies such as Google, people trying to set up or maintain small businesses are at a distinct disadvantage. When I talk about infrastructure I include areas such as access to reliable power, clean water and high speed broadband.

Access to high speed broadband is a problem for over 30% of the population. When one compares Ireland to other highly developed countries in Europe, we are lagging behind countries such as Latvia, Hungary and Poland. Iceland has a 95% broadband penetration rate.

In 2012 the Government task force highlighted all of these issues, as well as the importance of high speed broadband for economic growth, jobs, boosting small and medium enterprises, schools being able to access online tools and combatting rural isolation. Only a few years after Independence, the State embarked on a major challenge with regard to rural electrification, and the roll-out of broadband is equivalent to that. It was only in 2003 that the last two areas in the country were connected to electricity mains, in Inishturk and Inishturbot. There is a five year roll-out plan for broadband to every house and business in the country. It is just as important as rural electrification. I would support any move by the Government to make that happen.

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