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

I am raising this issue because so many constituents are having significant trouble accessing broadband throughout mid-Cork. They need broadband to be able to work from home, for college, to run their businesses and for social use. A great number of people from Ballingeary, to Ballinora to Ballyhea and everywhere in between are in the intervention area and waiting for services. While there is a patchwork of wireless operators, including Rapid and Imagine, they are only able to cover some of the area and many people are left without options.

The national broadband plan, NBP, has been up and running for a year at this stage and it will take another four years at least to cover much of the area. It is only covering one area in each county as it stands. In a county the size of Cork, which covers one eighth of the island, this is only a drop in the ocean. Macroom's council area is the size of County Leitrim and there are nine similar areas in Cork. The plan is being rolled out in an uneven way with only one area in each county. Larger counties such as Cork, Mayo and Galway are losing out. It is very frustrating for people who need to be able to access broadband, which should be made available more evenly. It is very frustrating for people when the fibre is so near their home but they do not have access, especially if they do not have a wireless option nearby.

People have also been raising with me how they cannot get a handle on a timeline on the plan. They are left very much in the dark waiting for broadband. The NBP does not seem to be taking on what appear to be low hanging fruit, for example, where commercial fibre is passing homes. People are not getting the opportunity to make a connection to it. From Derrynacaheragh to Coppeen to Castletown and Kilmichael, vast areas do not have the option available to them and are very much dependent on getting the NBP moving quickly.

It is not only an issue for rural areas. On the edge of the city boundary, in Ovens and Ballinora, which overlook the global cloud computing company, Dell EMC, many people are struggling to access broadband services. Even the blue commercial zone there are serious issues, for example in Heathfield, Ballincollig, where residents have been in for almost 16 months and Eir is still not rolling out fibre connections to them. It does not make sense. We would have expected that within the blue commercial zone these would have been the areas where Eir would have quickly had the service rolled out.

We will find every kind of excuse, from Eircode postcodes not being available to not being able to get on site and so on. This is despite the fact residents in Heathfield have had their Eircode postcodes since February last. Ducts have been installed as part of the construction, the builders have moved to phase 3 and still the fibre has not been laid when people have been living there for 16 months.

Is there some way the Minister can raise this with Eir and ComReg to see if they can quickly roll out broadband in those blue areas, as well as in the intervention area? It is very frustrating for people who have to sit so close to the fibre and not have an option. There are also many people in rural areas who really have no option of getting broadband and who are waiting for the national broadband plan.

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