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

Imagine has said that it can service up to 45% of the national broadband map. The Taoiseach stated last week that Imagine's challenge to the Government's map had caused a delay in respect of the plans relating to broadband. If a national communications company is telling the Minister that it can service half of the map, can we not utilise that to speed up the delivery of services to rural Ireland? We need to start thinking outside the box in order to get this moving. Surely if there are fast-track pathways such as this, they should be explored. Broadband is not a luxury for schools, families, businesses or 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 areas. We will never open the boarded up shops, create jobs or sustain enterprise in our regional towns and villages if we do not have an equal platform of broadband service to compete with the larger cities. The current digital divide has completely undermined the economic viability of rural Ireland. SMEs are walking out of rural areas because they do not have reliable broadband services. They are going back to towns and we are at the loss of that. I ask the Minister to look at that as well.

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