Rural Ireland’s dead and gone and we’ll find out in the newspapers

SIR,

It looks like the National Broadband Plan (NBP) is hanging by a fibre because Denis Naughten broke bread a few times with David McCourt, whose consortium is interested in the contact to implement it.

If David McCourt was prepared to roll out high speed broadband in my area, I’d be delighted to provide him with a good solid country dinner – the likes of bacon, cabbage and spuds – whenever he wanted it.

Because of the Salomic appetite in the Dáil for heads on plates, the hopes of those of us with a slow intermittent broadband service are dashed once again. It looks like we’ll have to struggle on as best we can with low speed and no speed broadband for years to come.

To add insult to injury, the eir service collapsed again over the weekend. While politician bluster and fluster, Rural Ireland is dying a painful death and we can’t even email for help because we’re incommunicado.

The funeral bell now tolls for Rural Ireland. I’ve fantasised about having high speed fibre optic broadband at my fingertips. That fantasy is becoming a nightmare.

This week, I’ll probably have to wait until Wednesday for my weekly copy of ‘The Kerryman’ for a round-up of the GAA games around County Kerry. As my local post office was decommissioned some years ago, I’m off now to buy a postage stamp in the General Post Office, Tralee about 8km away.

This letter should arrive on your desk in about two days’ time.

With apologies to WB Yeats: ‘Rural Broadband is dead and gone, ‘It’s with O’Leary in the grave.’ Sincerely,

Billy Ryle

Spa

Tralee