Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and greatly appreciate her taking the time to deal with this Adjournment matter. I raise an issue that affects more than 250 houses in the constituency in which I live, Cork North Central. While some of them are one-off houses, some are being built in new housing estates. People are purchasing houses only to find they do not have land-line access, broadband or an Internet service. When one considers the issue of planning, there are all sorts of regulations with regard to services such as water, sewerage connection and many other matters, including road infrastructure. However, one issue in this respect is that no consideration is given to whether communication facilities will be made available to the house purchasers.

I have been dealing with this issue for the past six months in the area in question. I have been on to Vodafone, Eircom, Cork Community Broadband and three or four other organisations but there has been no progress on the matter. The issue was really highlighted a number of weeks ago when people could not contact emergency services after a number of car accidents owing to the icy roads. This is causing a great problem people for people who have bought houses in the area and who are trying to work from home. It is also causing a great problem for people who have children in secondary school or college in that they cannot gain access to Internet services. Access to Internet information to assist with projects for school or college is now part of student research.

I did not realise that this could be such a problem in an area. I was based in Brussels for two years, including 2009. At that time, there was a question about freeing up radio spectrum to ensure everyone could have access to Internet services. We seem to have made very little progress in this area.

The other issue about which I am concerned is that approximately 67% of households in Ireland have access to broadband, whereas the average across Europe is approximately 76%. I am raising this issue in regard to planning. Can it be raised with local authorities so they will make telecommunications infrastructure a prerequisite when granting planning permission? The area to which I refer is stuck between three old telephone exchanges, one in Grenagh, one in Donoughmore and another in Blarney. The area is at the end of the land line from each of the three exchanges. I am making no progress on the matter. With a view to going forward, I ask that future development be taken into account when local authorities are considering the granting of planning permission. Communication services should be included as a condition.