Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, for coming to the House to take this matter.

I am very disappointed to read the Minister, Deputy Ryan’s national broadband plan update and to see that a few counties have been left behind on this update, Donegal being one of them. A former Minister, Pat Rabbitte, announced the national broadband plan ten years ago this August. When announcing it, he described the national broadband plan as the rural electrification of the 21st century. Now, a decade later, most of rural Ireland has been left behind in this roll-out. I have been contacted by many people in Donegal regarding this.

Working from home and remote learning have highlighted these broadband issues and many families in the county have become very frustrated at the lack of a stable Internet connection. Many of these families have told me they were informed they have serious connection issues but they will not be getting fibre broadband until 2025 or 2026. It should not be so stressful or take so long to get access to a necessary service. This is completely unacceptable.

Those of us who live in rural Ireland know what a difference it would make to families and others to have proper broadband connection. Why are the most rural, disconnected and forgotten areas of Ireland not being prioritised? Rural Ireland should be prioritised in this roll-out given that this area had the weakest Internet connection from the beginning. Every other county has already seen the start of broadband roll-out but Donegal will not see it until the second half of this year. Why is that? This is a form of enforced inequality and it is not good enough. My colleague, Deputy Pringle, has been calling on the Minister for years to ensure that Donegal is not left behind in the broadband roll-out. I join his call. This has gone on for too long and there needs to be some accountability.

We can see the impact the digital divide is having on people’s ability to access work, health services and education. I have been discussing the digital divide for a long time both in this House and at the Joint Committee on Education and Skills. Rural schools are located in areas where broadband is unstable and it is difficult to teach online and to even teach children in the classroom who do not have access to broadband. Some vulnerable students have also had to fight to access online learning or have not been able to access it at all during school closures. This creates a further digital divide. The reality is that students who have access to the best digital resources will do better and have better outcomes. As my colleague, Senator Ruane, said last week, for many students across the country, having a laptop and broadband are a luxury. Many students lost out oneducation due to the lack of adequatelearning supports and access to online learning just because they live in rural Ireland. We cannot create further inequality and division in this country. It has to end now.

As many Senators have said, we must also examine the cost of broadband roll-out. There is a small road, Crumlin Road, in Ardara where I live and there is no Internet connection in that area. Many areas of the country will not see the roll-out of broadband until at least the end of the year and for Donegal the beginning of the roll-out will not be seen until half-way through the year. That is very disheartening for people. The Tánaiste announced yesterday that people have the right to request to work from home. How can we expect people from Donegal, the forgotten county yet again, to be left behind? It impacts on people and children's lives in terms of having equal opportunities to be successful and to be able to work from home, but many of them do not have that. I urge that we address that.