Cobh homes and businesses still waiting on high speed broadband – Reilly

Govt rollout of National Broadband Plan completely mishandled

Fianna Fáil Local Election candidate for Cobh John Paul Reilly says Fine Gael has failed people in Cobh with its utter mismanagement of the National Broadband Plan.

More than five years after the Plan was first announced, homes and businesses in and around Cobh are still waiting for access to a high speed line. We were told that we would know by Easter what the government plan was, but once again the issue is up in the air.

“The National Broadband Plan was first launched in 2012, and having spent more than €25m on procurement to date, there is nothing to show for it. Despite the huge time-lag, the government is continuing to prevaricate. All the while homes, farms and businesses still have no access to what is now an essential service”, said Reilly.

“The government is holding people in contempt and it’s a disgrace. It’s easy to see that the Minister is from the East and is, as usual, Dublin centric. People outside of the capital have been shelved yet again.

“There are parts of Cobh that have little or no access to high-speed broadband – and it’s not just households that are affected – small businesses have been raising concerns that while they might want to expand, they are constrained because they don’t have adequate access to broadband.

“We seem to be no nearer to bringing broadband to parts of Cobh now than we were back in 2012. The delays to date are completely unacceptable and it is time for the government to deliver,” concluded Reilly.