Broadband plan is a start but rural areas needs more than fast internet

LAST week, in a move described as the biggest investment ever made into rural Ireland, the Government finally signed off on the controversial National Broadband Plan.

In the pipeline for seven years, the €3 billion plan will – if it proceeds as promised – eventually see over a million people in some 540,000 homes and businesses provided with access to high speed broadband.

While the enormous cost of the plan and how the bidding process was managed has raised eyebrows, the plan is laudable and it will make a huge difference to the lives of people in rural counties.

That change will still be some time coming however. While the National Broadband Ireland (NBI) consortium hopes to get shovels into the ground early next year, the broadband roll-out will be a protracted and difficult affair.

Some larger towns could be wired up within two years but for those living in more isolated areas it could be seven or eight years before the new broadband fibre lines reach them.

In the meantime, high speed wi-fi hubs will be set up in hundreds of locations including community centres, sports clubs and libraries. Handy certainly, but hardly a substitute for a decent dedicated domestic or business connection.

As the head of a Government frequently accused of ignoring or not understanding rural Ireland, Leo Varadkar clearly believes the broadband plan will restore frustrated rural voters’ faith in his party.

It might eventually but if it takes seven years Mr Varadkar may have long since exited the Taoiseach’s office by the time many in rural Ireland reap the benefits.

Even then it’s likely that technology will have outpaced the plan and the country will be left with a useful but costly and outdated network.

Better broadband will undoubtedly help rural Ireland and it is guaranteed to generate – or at least maintain – jobs but it is not the cure-all that Mr Varadkar and his Government appear to think it is.

Rural Ireland faces a myriad of complex issues and a lack of broadband is just one of them.

If the Government is serious about helping rural regions it must take serious steps to address issues like rural transport (or rather the lack of it); chronic housing shortages and the dismal state of the water network.

Having high speed broadband in the village hall will be nice but many people would rather see a proper sewerage scheme built in their village first.

A greater focus on job creation in the regions would also be welcome. For too long foreign investment has been focussed on the capital leading to mass migration from rural counties.

With better broadband across the country it would be nice to see the IDA taking advantage and working to bring more investment to areas outside Dublin and Cork.

The broadband plan is definitely welcome but it is only the first step on a long road to recovery for rural Ireland.