Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for taking the question on broadband provision nationwide and in Kerry. He is well aware of the difficulties in rural areas regarding broadband. I am sure he is aware of the fact that 30% of trade is now done over the Internet yet only 10% of Irish companies seem to have a presence and an ability to sell over the Internet. A large part of this is due to an ineffective broadband system throughout the country and in rural Ireland it is a major impediment.

The focus of my concern is not only the lack of broadband but broadband speed. One study has shown that the speed of broadband and fibre optic networks in Ireland is less than 1% while the OECD average is 9.6%. A fibre optic network can lead to potential savings in the four main economic areas of electricity, transportation, education and health but, as I have said, the fibre optic network here has been less than poor.

With regard to the speed of our network at 10 MBps, the Irish network is just over 10% whereas in the UK it ranges in the high 30s to the mid-40s in percentage terms of their ability to get 10 MBps or more. We have a number of proposals. One proposal is like the rural electrification or group water schemes where communities could put in ducting which accounts for 90% of the cost of installing a fibre optic network. That is the future-proof way of having a better network.

We all know the difficulties encountered when installing masts in rural areas. The Minister of State knows that communities, such as those in his area, are quite willing to install fibre optic networks given that the tools, mechanism and money could be put in at a reasonably inexpensive cost relative to the State installing same. In the same way as rural water schemes were installed by communities, the ducting could be done which accounts for 90% of the cost of a fibre optic network. If the network is installed by a private contractor or the State, there is no doubt it would be done at a huge expense and enormous waste.

Rural broadband, and broadband in general, are a concern for Kerry but are also a concern for Donegal because they are used for commerce throughout the world, and increasingly so. However, small businesses and communities around Ireland - in Kerry, Donegal and elsewhere - do not have access to adequate broadband. In some cases they do not have access to broadband at all.