Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Every day I receive complaints from constituents about the dropping of mobile phone calls. Every day I ask people to move their location so that I can hear what they are saying because of the quality of mobile phone coverage. The Minister of State, coming from a rural constituency, will know exactly what I am talking about. On 1 February the Government launched the new national digital strategy, Harnessing Digital - The Digital Ireland Framework. One of the objectives set out in the framework was making connectivity available to everyone. It set a target that all populated areas would be covered by 5G not later than 2030. Eir today has 5G coverage over 70% of Ireland's population, covering 322 towns throughout the country. That is close to providing coverage for every town of a population of 500 or more. Three has population coverage of 79% for 5G technology. By 2028 we will have 146,000 km of fibre cable stretching across 96% of Ireland's landmass. Therefore, setting a goal for only covering the populated areas of the country two years later by 2030 is not very ambitious.

On top of that, the Minister of State's own Department of Justice, will have to retender for the TETRA radio communications network, the digital radio service for An Garda Síochána and for the other emergency services that is costing the taxpayer €40 million per annum at the moment. This network needs to be replaced with a 5G network and to have geographic coverage. That is not only to support the existing emergency services but also to support the remote drone operation through the Air Corps that provides Garda air support throughout Ireland and not only in the city of Dublin. That can be done with 5G technology.

Today there is a real gap in providing mobile voice and data services to address the blackspots around the country that are having a negative impact on business and tourism in our rural areas. This will have a significant impact on medical care, the care of older people and the use of technology on farms into the future. As one of the most dispersed populations in Europe, Ireland has a relatively high percentage of its landmass with no mobile data coverage. I believe now is the time to focus on the opportunity the State has by working in collaboration with industry to develop a shared rural network to address this issue and assist in the further balanced regional development and economic development of our rural areas. This shared rural network could provide the critical 4G and 5G coverage that would enhance the operation of our rural economy, support key activities such as farming, medical services, older people's schemes in rural areas, and SME business operations, and ensure people could remain connected when travelling around the country, working in rural Ireland or living in our rural areas.

See this speech in context