John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When I think back, hindsight is a beautiful thing, when one thinks about it. I tend not to be too party political in the Seanad, but in 2017 and 2018, the Taoiseach at the time, Deputy Varadkar, championed this issue when there was a chorus of people telling him it was too much, too expensive, too ambitious, it was not going to happen and suggesting it would be better to focus and divert attention elsewhere. Due to a pandemic that has crossed the world, it has proven to be a very smart idea. I would like to put on the record that the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, championed this issue from the very get-go. Now we see how important it is that we are where we are today because of something that no one foresaw.

When we consider where we are now with remote working, by having broadband in the most far-flung rural places in this country, it is putting everyone on an even keel. This country and its development of infrastructure over the past 20 to 40 years has been either large-city centric or large-provincial town centric. Finally, we are now able to put in infrastructure into rural Ireland to put it on the same level playing field, enabling people to access education, do their online banking and work from home at the same level as anybody else. It is that level of equality and ensuring there is equilibrium between urban and rural Ireland that is one of the most important things about rural broadband and why I very much welcome it.

The other point about broadband is not just necessarily about working from home, but it is with the provision and the real push towards ensuring we have remote working hubs in rural villages. What is good about that is that one is taking previously derelict or vacant buildings and repurposing them. People are coming into rural areas and villages and ten or 15 people are working away in it. That is an income as well to everyone else within that village, whether it is the shop, the butcher or wherever. When people are coming into those areas they are spending money in those localities as well, and that is a result of bringing strong broadband provision in these areas.

When the history of this time of infrastructure will be written, very strong comparisons will be shown with the electrification of rural Ireland. The Shannon scheme started in 1929 and the last rural areas electrified were in 1964. It was a 30-year process. Make no mistake about it; the infrastructural project we are embarking on here is of the absolute same colossal significance as was rural electrification. It is the exact same thing. Back then, naturally, it took over 30 years. We are hoping to do it in a much shorter timeframe.

When I look at my own part of the world with NBI in County Louth, and Senator Dooley mentioned it as well, I have to compliment NBI on its ability to communicate. It is a very good communicator. One can log on online and, down to the very townland, to a couple of fields or to a small townland, one can see roughly when that is due to be connected. That provides people with much peace of mind because they can acknowledge that they can put up with it for another six months or year.

We can only begin to imagine the sheer frustration of people when they could be getting towards a work deadline or project or whatever it is, and the Internet is dropping or it is not at the same speed as someone 20 miles down the road in an urban town. It must be absolutely infuriating. If we think about it, people living in rural areas much of the time can be treated as second-class citizens in terms of broadband because they do not have the same level of equality or access to it.

The point was mentioned earlier that we have moved so much more online in every aspect of our lives. There are very few aspects of people’s lives today that are not online and that it why it is so important that broadband will be rolled out into every single corner, parish and rural area of this country. That is the big reason this whole project is vitally important.