Sherlock says broadband a step towards bridging digital divide in East Cork

Plan sets specific targets to digitalise rural Ireland

Minister Séan Sherlock has urged householders and businesses to engage with the newly published online national and county maps that identify the homes, businesses and schools where commercial providers will deliver high-speed broadband access by the end of 2016.
The scheme was launched by Minister Alex White this week who said that the State would invest in all the remaining areas to ensure that every home, school and business in Ireland has access to high-speed broadband, regardless of where it is located.

The maps, which allow the public to identify their own premises to see whether their high-speed broadband will be provided by a commercial operator or through State intervention, can be accessed at www.broadband.gov.ie. The website also carries county-by-county statistics on planned broadband coverage.

“A process is now in place to begin a series of public consultations and tenders that will eventually see East Cork completely covered by a minimum of 30mbs internet speed,” said Minister Sherlock.
“The delivery of high quality broadband is about ensuring that our citizens in rural Ireland have the same life chances, and the same access to information, culture, ideas, social interaction and opportunity that people in urban areas can enjoy. It’s also about jobs in the rural economy. By ensuring access to high quality broadband we will help attract investment and ensure that businesses in rural Ireland can stay in rural Ireland. We will also enable people to live in their local communities and work from home if that works for them. And it’s about families and communities – helping us keep in touch with loved ones, enabling our children to use the internet as a rich learning resource at school and at home, and giving people rapid access to a full range of public services.”

A consultation on the content of the maps, which closes on 12th February 2015, will ensure that they accurately reflect the extent of planned state investment in high-speed broadband infrastructure. This is necessary to ensure that the State intervention does not compete with commercial provision, as is required under EU state aid guidelines. The map shows that:

Minister White said the next phase of the intervention strategy would be completed by summer 2015, after which he would move quickly to the procurement phase of the project.