Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I come to the Minister of State with a short and simple message from rural Ireland. We need broadband now or as soon as possible. The people are frustrated, fed up and tired of the delays with the national broadband plan. I have representations that have been sitting in my office since my by-election victory in May 2015 from people living in rural communities and the outskirts of regional towns who cannot understand why I cannot give them updates on the progress of broadband services in their localities. The frustration on the ground is reaching boiling point. There is frustration for us as public representatives as well as we have no information with which to go back to our constituents. When people contact me with their Eircode postcodes and I check the national broadband plan map and their houses are classified as being in the amber area for State subvention, I cannot offer any solution whatsoever. Rural communities throughout the country have been kept waiting seven years for the roll-out of high-speed broadband by this Government. I get the sense that the Government is not really serious about rural Ireland and rural communities such as those in Carlow and Kilkenny.

Broadband is not a luxury for schools, families, businesses and farmers; it is an absolute necessity. If it is not delivered soon, the benefits may be lost forever as investment will not flow to rural and regional Ireland. Successive Ministers have failed miserably to bring this crucial national project to completion. I am sad to say I have serious doubts as to when, if ever, it will be delivered. It represents one of the greatest Government failures in living memory and demonstrates that when it comes to thinking big and delivering for rural Ireland, this Government always falls short. We will never reopen the boarded up shopfronts, create jobs and sustain enterprise in our regional towns and villages if we do not have the equal platform of broadband services to compete with the larger cities. The current digital divide is completely undermining the economic viability of rural Ireland. SMEs are walking out of rural Ireland because they cannot rely on reliable broadband services. They are not expanding and growing their businesses or creating jobs in their localities because the services and infrastructure are simply not on a par with the larger population centres and cities. I ask the Minister of State not to give us platitudes, but answers and solutions. That is what the people of rural Ireland want, and the sooner it is done, the better.

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