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"Broadband delay destroying
businesses"
13.11.08
EUROPEAN election
candidate Cllr Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has called on
the Communications Minister to reverse his decision
to delay the national broadband scheme roll out
until 2010.
Cllr. Mac Lochlainn has described Minister Eamon
Ryan's move as “devastating for Irish businesses
particularly in rural Ireland".
"Despite the massive difficulties facing Irish
businesses the Government seems intent on driving us
further into recession.
"Budget 2009 was an opportunity to turn around the
economy yet Fianna Fail and the Greens have chosen
to treat it as simply a crude exercise in balancing
the books with no plan to turn around the economy,"
said Cllr MacLochlainn. |
He reiterated his call
for Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan
to outline her Government's plan for economic
recovery following the latest damning live register
figures that show a 58% rise in unemployment in
Donegal in a year.
“Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan should hang his
head in shame for stating in the Dáil recently that
he |
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‘hopes’ that the
broadband roll scheme will be completed by 2010, not
2009 as originally committed to.
"Irish business, particularly in rural areas cannot
grow their potential on the Minister's hopes. They
need broadband and they need it yesterday," added
Cllr MacLochlainn.
Meanwhile, he said news that Eircom may change
ownership again made the prospect of broadband
saturation throughout Ireland "even further away".
He suggested accessing the National Pension Reserve
Fund to allow the Government deliver key
infrastructure projects.
"“Ireland lags well behind it European partners with
the highest costs and lowest (broadband) speeds. We
are the only country in Europe where more people use
narrowband or dial-up than broadband.
"How can we as a State promote ourselves
internationally as a knowledge-based economy if we
don’t have the most basic of tools to deliver such a
market? Broadband has become a vital social method
of communication and education for the young, the
old and disabled," added Cllr MacLochlainn. |
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