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

Like my other colleagues, I have a short and simple message from rural Ireland. We need broadband and we need it now. People are frustrated, fed up and tired of the delays with the national broadband plan. Since May 2015, when I was elected, I have had representations from people living in rural communities and on the outskirts of rural towns who cannot understand why I cannot give them an update on the progress of the roll-out of broadband services. Frustration on the ground has reached boiling point.

There is also frustration among public representatives due to not having information to bring back to our constituents. When I check a constituent’s postcode on the national broadband plan map and it is classified in an amber area for State subvention, I cannot offer any solution. Rural communities have been kept waiting for eight years for the roll-out of high-speed broadband by the Government. I get the sense the Government is not serious about rural communities such as those in Carlow and Kilkenny.

Broadband is not a luxury for schools, families, businesses and farmers but a necessity. If it is not delivered soon, the benefits may be lost forever as investment will not flow to rural and regional areas. Several Ministers have failed miserably to bring this crucial national project to completion. It saddens me to say that I have serious doubts about when, if ever, it will be delivered. It represents one of the greatest Government failures in living memory. When it comes to thinking big and delivering for rural Ireland, the Government falls short. We will never reopen the boarded up shopfronts, create jobs and sustain enterprise in regional towns and villages if we do not have an equal platform for broadband services in order to compete with larger cities. I have numerous examples of people ringing me who want to move back to Kilkenny from Dublin but they cannot do so because their businesses depend on high-speed broadband to which they cannot get access outside of Dublin. It is time for the Minister to get this plan up and running. It is time for no more promises, just delivery.

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