Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Over the past number of months as the pandemic wreaked havoc in our society and the world, we have seen a societal change in terms of how people have conducted themselves since the first week of March. A significant number of people are now working from home and have adapted enormously in that regard. Students, from primary school children to university students, have worked from home. Those working in State jobs, multinationals, local and indigenous companies and manufacturing and everything else have adapted. Society has changed.

The great enabler of that has been the Internet and a good and positive connection to it. Therein lies the challenge for rural and urban Ireland. Parts of Ireland are classified as urban, but do not have great connectivity to the Internet. One of the great enablers of work is a connection to the Internet. Each and every day people from across my constituency contact me to ask when there will be an upgrade and what they can do to ensure they can continue to work from home and be engaged in education and society.

This is not just about work or education; there is a purely social aspect. With further restrictions added today, many people are keeping in contact through Zoom and every other mechanism available to them to try to maintain connectivity. The previous Topical Issue was about the connectivity of people. This is about connectivity to keep all communities going.

What are the plans to ensure there is a proper roll-out of broadband in the short term?

As we head into the winter of this pandemic, who knows where we are going to be in the weeks and months ahead. We want to ensure connectivity right across the country. The great enabler to ensure that there is balanced regional development is broadband.

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