Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach.

I am struck by the irony as I listen to the debate, given that for the last couple of years Opposition parties have continuously accused the Government of being against, not in favour of, rural Ireland, yet it is the Government that is pushing for the delivery of high speed broadband to every house in the country. The Government just does not understand is a comment I hear regularly. The comment in my head is that it does not want to understand because Opposition parties want to set a certain narrative for political purposes. Fine Gael plans to deliver high speed fibre broadband to every home, farm, business and school in rural Ireland. It wants to do so for very good reasons as it does not believe we can afford to allow the digital divide to continue and there is no cheaper or quicker way to do it. If we were to do as the Opposition asks and change approach, it would be people in rural Ireland who would be left behind without high speed fibre broadband. The Government does not want to do that. Historically, there was a legacy of under-investment in broadband provision by the State since a Fianna Fáil-led Government sold Telecom Éireann in 1999, for which we are still paying the price.

There is no question that the cost of the national broadband plan is high, but the cost and impact on rural Ireland of not implementing it would be even higher and bigger. We need to put the cost of the plan in context. Between 2002 and 2016 the State invested €400 million in the roll-out of high speed broadband. We will have invested €36.9 billion in roads and €10.8 billion in water infrastructure between 2002 and 2021. It is vital that we now act to counteract the historical under-investment, even throughout the biggest boom the country has ever seen in the Celtic Tiger era. The Government of the day decided to sell Telecom Éireann, leaving it to the private sector to roll out high speed fibre broadband, but what did that sector do? In order to make a profit, the companies involved cherry-picked the most populated areas. They went for the towns and cities, leaving rural dwellers behind. There are 540,000 premises, with 1.1 million people living in them. We have the maps on which the 540,000 premises are clearly marked by the private sector, to which it will not deliver a service.

There is a very good reason we need the national broadband plan. We need to progress the conversation. Broadband provision is not about Netflix but about having a decent quality of life. Because there are comparisons, people talk about broadband provision in the context of the rural electrification scheme. People initially thought the purpose of the rural electrification scheme was to bring light to their houses. They never envisaged the myriad uses to which electricity could be put, with sockets all around our houses to power an array of electronic devices. They simply thought the purpose was to bring light to their houses and yards. Similarly in the case of broadband, we cannot identify all of the uses to which it will be put in the future, but in respect of the rural electrification scheme, nobody in the country would dream of living in a house without electricity. Similarly, we are not far from the time when no one will dream of living in a house without high-speed fibre broadband which is needed for online shopping, remote working and e-health services. We will very quickly move into a space where it will become a necessity, not a luxury. If we do not invest to ensure every home in rural Ireland has access to high-speed broadband, we will see the abandonment of rural Ireland, something about which many in this House are genuinely concerned. That is why we have Project Ireland 2040, the biggest investment by the State in rural Ireland, through the town and village renewal and urban and rural regeneration schemes, of which broadband provision is a key part. We do not want people to move from small rural communities to live in villages and bigger towns because they are the only places in which they can have the quality of life in their home that they seek.

What is contained in the motion would set us back a mile, drive the digital divide and leave those living in rural Ireland behind. The opportunities are in having flexible remote working arrangements and smart health programmes, with online GP, nursing and medical monitoring services, particularly for older people who live in isolated areas. The opportunities are also in having cloud-based and connected devices, smart farming programmes for those involved in the agriculture sector, digital learning programmes, reliable electronic payment and booking services, as well as online shopping which could be seen as a luxury but which in many ways is a necessity for so many. The point is that for too long we have had a muddying of the waters, with the Opposition trying to state this is an awful thing to do, but this is the right investment for rural Ireland. The biggest mistake would be not driving on with it. I cannot stress enough that at its special meeting in September the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party unanimously passed motion stating we needed to see delivery of the national broadband plan as soon as possible. As chairman of the party, I back that motion and want to see the plan delivered as soon as possible.

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