Broadband impasse hits rural business

The continuing impasse on the roll-out of rural broadband is having a massive impact on thousands of homes and businesses in rural Ireland.

That’s according to Fianna Fáil TD for Galway and Roscommon Eugene Murphy, who said he is inundated with complaints amid the continuing delay in signing the contract for the National Broadband Plan (NBP).

“We have had nothing but delay after delay with hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses still waiting to be connected to the network,” he said.

The NBP aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland. It intends to ensure that all citizens and businesses have access to high speed broadband no matter where they live or work.

Deputy Murphy brought the attention of the Minister of Communications, Denis Naughten, to the difficulties caused to businesses and communities in Galway and Roscommon by the lack of high speed broadband – particularly in view of the fact that such a high percentage of these counties fall under the scope of the State Intervention Area under the NBP.

The State Intervention Areas are places where there is no existing or planned commercial network and so the State intends on providing these areas with it.

Minister Naughten said in response that he was ‘acutely aware of the impact that a lack of reliable high speed broadband has on people throughout Ireland, including Galway and Roscommon’.

Deputy Murphy said that the lack of high speed broadband is having a serious impact on hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in rural Ireland waiting to be connected to the network and that he’s had a ‘number of complaints’.

“Minister Naughten has failed to give any indications as to when the contract for the NBP will be signed,” he said.

“Communities up and down the country simply don’t believe what the Government is saying about its broadband plans because every commitment to date has been broken,” he added.

He feels a lot of places, especially places outside Ballinasloe in Galway are “very badly affected.”

“It’s a serious issue,” he said, “it’s a huge issue that people are forgetting about because it’s not urban areas,” he said.

Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív has also addressed Minister Naughten on the same topic, asking him when the contract for the roll out of the NBP will be amended and when it is expected that work on it will take place.

Minister Naughten said that his department is in a “formal procurement process to engage a company who will roll-out a new high-speed broadband network in the State Intervention area.” Minister Naughten also said that the process was now in its final stages.

“Accessing quality broadband is a core requirement for small and medium sized businesses across the country,” said Deputy Murphy.

“The provision of quality broadband for rural Ireland is not a luxury, it is a matter of necessity for survival.

“Farmers cannot complete online applications for payments, schools are unable to access educational aids and businesses are unable to operate fully functional online services.

“Minister Naughten needs to announce a date for the contract to be signed so that the scheme can be rolled out to the areas which desperately need it most,” concluded Deputy Murphy.

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