Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I feel a bit bad standing up here today because the Minister has had so many demands made to him for funding and we are €239 billion in debt since Covid-19 hit the country. I am not sure how quickly the economy can bounce back. Certainly some parts can but others will not bounce back that quickly.

With respect to the national broadband roll-out, I welcome the progress to date but I have some concerns. In particular, I am concerned about the ambition of National Broadband Ireland to grow from 900 to 2,000 staff, given the shortage of skills in the country in fibre optics. The Government should have seen this coming and laid on courses in further education and third level to take care of it. I believe the Government is now doing so and I would like the Minister to confirm this.

I taught courses in IT for more than 25 years before I came to the House. The one thing I learned during those 25 years is that technology moves forward at a pace that can be quite fast. This brings me to my concern that we are in the middle of spending a small fortune on fibre-optic connectivity, which we expect to last ten or 15 years. If I know nothing else, I know that ten to 15 years in IT is an awfully long time. Has the Department or the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications considered the plan B outlined by Brian Flanagan with respect to the use of low-earth orbit satellites? Recently, the EU prioritised the delivery of high-speed broadband by satellite and has launched a major programme to establish a European-led low-earth orbit satellite service by between 2025 and 2027. I believe 11 companies already operating in this country are capable of delivering satellite broadband. I know people will say the upload and download speeds do not compare with fibre optic but over time they will improve. It certainly would bring connectivity to the darkest corners of this country. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of fast reliable broadband to ensure people of all parts of the country can avail of remote working, education and essential online services.The previous speaker mentioned families with a number of members trying to access the Internet in a home at the same time.

Currently, 40% of households and businesses in Mayo are without adequate broadband services. National Broadband Ireland's timeline indicates approximately 18 months for the national broadband plan to be delivered in the Ballina and Castlebar areas but it has admitted that areas further out in the county will have a longer wait for the service. Deputy Michael McNamara has stated that rural Clare will remain a broadband black hole right through 2021 and nearly a third of Kerry homes and businesses do not have a quality broadband service, with some people paying for two services monthly in the hope of having a usable signal. Mr. Elon Musk's corporation approached the Department of Rural and Community Development last year and the Starlink product will initially involve just a single household. There has been progress but Covid-related delays have set us back.

In an interview with the Irish Farmers' Journal, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, explained that delays are down to people being unable to install the infrastructure and we cannot get people from England. This is why I speak about the training that should have taken place. Given how critical broadband is to the functioning of every area in the economy, what plans are in place to make up for the lost time and will the Minister now consider looking at satellite services for more remote areas?

I constantly hear the term "balanced regional development" but such a concept does not exist and is not possible. The centralised approach of government is probably wrong and we should focus more on regional stakeholders who have the drive to maximise growth and development in a region. The top-down system of driving regional economies limits the capacity of a region to exploit its unique strengths. For example, we must move away from stripping local authorities of their powers. Before anybody says that does not happen, I should say that it does. Councillors who recently made submissions were told the submissions they were making to local authorities would be overturned by a Minister or a Minister would have the final say. Surely local people should have the final say.

My colleague from Sinn Féin mentioned traffic congestion in Limerick and it is now a feature of Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Dublin and several other large towns in the country. With respect to Cork, Limerick and Galway, is it not time for us to look at financing light rail systems? A number of different systems are available in the world other than the Luas-type system, which is heavy rail and not good enough. I know some people in Galway are exploring very light rail systems with Coventry City Council, and it is something we should consider, along with the development of park-and-ride facilities. In Galway it can take two hours to get across what is a relatively small city. Cork can be a nightmare, as the Minister will be aware. I see time is running out but we must look at light rail as an alternative with decent park-and-ride facilities.

I have some comments on Brexit, the ports and airports. Dublin and Rosslare ports have done much work to counter the effects of Brexit but we need to see lo-lo facilities developed more in Waterford because ro-ro is not available in that neck of the woods. The ports at Cork and Foynes must also be developed. We should look at the airports and particularly Shannon for export and import facilities through the air.