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

I have raised this matter consistently with the Minister since he assumed office. As recently as last week, I brought to him a message from rural Ireland that we needed broadband as soon as possible. Given the issues in his constituency, I know that he is acutely aware of the feeling on the ground. People are frustrated, fed up and tired of the delays in the roll-out of the national broadband plan. Rural communities have been kept waiting for seven years for the roll-out by the Government of high-speed broadband. The Minister has to get serious about rural Ireland and rural communities such as those I represent in the constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. Broadband is not a luxury for schools, families, businesses or farmers but an absolute necessity. I keep saying that if it is not delivered soon, the benefits may be lost forever as investment will flow from rural and regional Ireland. We need to reopen boarded-up shop fronts, create jobs and sustain enterprise in regional towns and villages, but we do not have an equal platform of broadband services on which to compete with the larger cities. Plans and declarations are great, but what we need is action on the ground sooner rather than later.

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