Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The whole point is that, first, it does not look like the Minister of State has engaged properly with them. I respect that since he has plenty of time to do that in the days and hours ahead. The bottom line is we need to support the existing wireless operators. It was the same with previous Ministers. Nobody seems to care about this. The existing wireless operator can offer broadband down in the valley that nobody else will be able to offer for the next five years. He can put a base station at the top of the hill and it will reflect. That is why the Minister of State got broadband when he was in Ballydehob. I live in Schull, which is the town next to it. This is what DigitalForge and others have been doing out there. They have been providing broadband years and years ahead. What are we doing? We will tell the rest of the country to hang on for five years because the fibre will be coming and if it does they can tie into the fibre. Forget the fibre. For many people wireless is the way forward at present.

I need the Minister of State to talk to the wireless operators and find that solution. He needs to find that solution for the people who, five years down the line, are not going to be connected and who cannot come home and work and cannot come home and live. That is all I ask the Minister of State to do because nobody is talking about the wireless operator. They are all dreaming about five years down the line. I am not. I want the solution to today's problem.

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