Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not convinced that the Minister's belief the sole bidder under the national broadband plan is "really committed" is enough on its own. We need more than that; we need certainty. There is a serious problem with broadband provision in the State. At the end of 2017 Ireland was ranked 62nd for average mobile download speeds and 81st for upload speeds.

In the second half of 2017 the State was ranked 42nd in the world for average fixed-broadband download speeds, with an average speed of 38.81 megabits per second. At 13.42 Mbps, the State was ranked 59th for upload speeds, placing it between Cambodia and India. Ireland is 21st of 25 EU member states for broadband speeds, behind Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia and Jersey.

Fingal is only out the road from here, but, as I said to the Minister's colleague during a debate on roads, sometimes it might as well be Timbuktu for all the notice that is taken of it. There are major connectivity issues there. The problem is particularly acute in rural Fingal, for example, in certain parts of Balbriggan and areas surrounding the airport. The lack of availability of broadband is preventing Balbriggan and surrounding rural areas from achieving their economic and social potential. This is having a devastating effect on residents. People living in Fingal want to be able to Skype their parents or children or book tickets online to go see the Dubs play. Regrettably, the connectivity problems restrict what they can and cannot do. When I am driving to work in the morning I look to my left and right and see people who I know are in their cars because they cannot work from home. Many of them come from my constituency and clog up the M1 in the morning. If there was connectivity, they would much rather work from home, but it is simply not an option for some.

There have been problems with broadband and telecommunications in the country for many years. The genesis of the sharp side of these issues was the forced liberalisation through the European Commission of telecommunications infrastructure. As technology developed, the Commission and private interests saw an opportunity to make profit and forced liberalisation had to follow. Forced to open up the sector to private operators, the State had to privatise Telecom Éireann in 1999. It was madness at the time and the forced marketisation is still madness. It should be resisted. We should now look at the possibility of progressing the national broadband plan under State ownership.

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