Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The following is through the eyes of a teenager:

Being without broadband is like being without your voice in today's world. [That was said to me by a teenager recently.] Like it, love it, hate it. It is our window to the world of work, of education, of health, of leisure and just general family catch-up.

Unfortunately, this highlights again the big urban-rural divide. We have parts of Ireland that still have no broadband connection. A recent survey conducted by switcher.iefound towns and cities have broadband speeds up to 36 times faster than some rural parts of Ireland. We are currently waiting for 2 million premises to be connected to the NBI network and 18% of Irish homes still have no network. If we can look at broadband as a way of dispersing masses to less-populated areas, this would make many rural towns and villages more sustainable.

I am just going to roll back to when we were talking about front-line workers and providers who protected us through Covid-19. I received another email during the week from concerned businesses based in a business park in Kilmallock. Among these is Irema, which supplied masks to the health service throughout Ireland. It supplied masks to everyone to try to protect us. Irema does not have broadband. It is a massive employer in Kilmallock yet it does not have broadband. When we asked the company to step up to the plate to help and protect us, it did so. It asked the Government to give it broadband. There are other firms in that area. An Post is in the same business park. Dansko Foods has invested in the same business park and it does not have broadband. If you go to the other side of Kilmallock, Keltec Engineering does not have broadband. I can see that within 100 yards there is broadband. When these firms enquire about it, they are given phone numbers and told they will have it by 2025 or 2026. It is 100 yards away. I am in construction all my life. If you gave a person a shovel he or she would have it dug in a month, so I could do it in a digger within a day. The Government cannot give broadband to businesses that are ratepayers and are helping feed families throughout this country.

I have Eir in my office in Kilmallock. I have BBnet in my home in Granagh. I look up at the mast every day. I have had to contact the likes of Imagine and Virgin to try to help people with wireless connections. Deputy Collins just mentioned, and the Minister of State has said himself, that he has not really engaged with the wireless operators. It is the only hope we have for people to get connected. I want a commitment from the Minister of State that he will get in contact with me about the areas in Limerick where we need immediate broadband because there are jobs on the line and families are being supported through businesses. Houlihan Engineering in Athlacca has no broadband. The broadband has come to the end of the road but it will not be brought up an extra 100 yards to provide it to businesses. I therefore want a commitment from the Minister of State that he will look at Limerick and at the areas I am going to give him so we can get broadband into houses and businesses in the county.

See this speech in context