Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am proud to talk about the major investment decision we have taken this week. As chairman of the Atlantic economic corridor task force, I am very proud to be able to go to its next meeting to tell members that in the nine counties, from Donegal to Kerry, we are going to invest a sum of €938 million. We are going to empower 238,000 premises and homes along the Atlantic economic corridor route. The Atlantic economic corridor has been set up as a basis for transforming our economy so that there is balanced development across this country. We have been working over the past number of years on the basis that we need to provide new infrastructure. One of the main infrastructure items we require is connectivity and telecommunications. We have been left devoid of this for a long time, starved of opportunity, and now is the time to release people from this. We will release 1.1 million homes, 56,000 farms, 44,000 businesses and 630 primary schools to ensure they can join the digital age.

I am very proud that we have made this decision. It has been made because we want to make sure that Ireland can be the leader in the digitalisation of the world. We are here, and we can do it. We have the confidence to do it and the population to take on the challenge. Some €152 million is being invested in Galway, along with €151 million in Mayo. We are going to empower thousands of people to make ensure that they can join the digital age. Our students cannot live at home at the moment, having instead to live in Galway, Athlone or Sligo because they cannot do their dissertations and projects due to a lack of access to broadband. Farmers cannot fulfil their obligations in terms of online payments because they do not have the infrastructure in their homes. We talk about the smart economy and smart farming, but if one does not have the tools to do it, one is lost.

I am a rural TD, and I am delighted that we are doing this on the basis that we cannot leave anyone behind. Everyone will be included. It has been accepted that fibre to the home is the only technology available that will guarantee a proper service to every house which is compatible with every urban area. It is important to remember that. I was canvassing for the local elections, and one of the main issues arising on the doorsteps in my constituency was the lack of broadband in large areas such as Clarinbridge, Headford, Tuam and Ballinakill. Many of these areas have been spoken about in this House over the past two to three years and the question of what the Government is doing about it has been asked. The day of reckoning has come. We are going to deliver it, and I am very proud that we are going to deliver it.

See this speech in context