Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Covid-19 has affected every single walk of life since last March. When society practically shut down eight months ago, we entered the land of the unknown. Natural human interaction that we took for granted was no longer possible. We needed to try to find a new way of interacting. It was no longer possible to attend workplaces or school settings. At some stages, we could no longer fly, drive or even walk to meet our families. The possibility of attending sporting or music events was removed. This was all due to the threat of the virus.

Technology stepped into the breach, and thankfully so. I doubt many or any of us just those few months ago had ever heard of Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts or other similar virtual forums. What I am getting to is that whenever our basis of humanity was removed or threatened by this global pandemic, the only mechanism that allowed us to continue our lives with some sense of normality was technology. However, the issue is that if ever the technological divide in Ireland manifested itself and showed how wrong and problematic this divide is, it was during this Covid-19 crisis.

A year ago almost to the day, on 19 November 2019 my constituency colleague and then Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, announced a €128 million broadband investment that would connect 32,000 homes and businesses in Donegal to a high-speed fibre optic broadband network. Many people would have loved to have had such a connection in recent months.

I wish to touch on my county's experience with the Eir contract under which the company was contracted to reach out to another 300,000 homes. Lines were drawn in rural communities outside of towns. These were cruel lines. I have lost count of the number of families my office has dealt with that were just outside the lines. They were looking at their neighbours who gained this absolutely essential access to broadband. It is almost comparable to the electrification of the country back in the day it is so vital in the modern age. Those families were looking at other houses not too far away from them that had gained access, but they had not. That was so cruel. We must deliver this plan.

The House is only too well aware of the problems successive Governments have had in rolling out a national broadband plan. Indeed, we in Sinn Féin had our concerns about the current national broadband plan and we put them forward at the time. That said, we are where we are. The irony of Covid-19 is that although technology went some way to eradicating some of the problems the virus threw at us, the virus also inhibited and affected the roll-out of the current broadband plan. It is now behind schedule. We are at a point where it must be taken as a matter of the utmost seriousness and a priority for the Government. Rural Ireland can no longer operate without a connected broadband infrastructure. For far too long, rural Ireland has been operating with one hand held behind its back when it comes to broadband and, dare I say, there has been no spark from far too many Governments when it came to levelling the pitch. I can tell the Minister that it is unacceptable and will not be accepted for any considerable period into the future.

It is my belief that the success or failure of the roll-out of the national broadband plan will be a litmus test for the Government. Life has changed as a result of Covid-19. Patients are accessing medical appointments through a laptop or mobile phone screen. Students in school or college are doing their lessons online. Increased numbers of people are doing their shopping online and banking is carried out almost exclusively online. None of these necessary life actions can happen without quick, secure and affordable access to broadband.

I ask the Minister to convene an implementation team within her Department, if such a team is not already in place, to work directly with National Broadband Ireland to get the roll-out of broadband back on track, to speed it up if possible and to allow my constituency of Donegal and all other parts of rural Ireland at least to have an even hand when we are fighting for jobs, investment and tourism. To finish as I started, rural and community development is impossible into the future without access to broadband. I urge the Minister to let this be her legacy in the Department for which she has responsibility.

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