Broadband is vital for West of Ireland

Sir — I have come back from a trip to Ballinamore in Co Leitrim for the Bealtaine Festival in the local library. The town was looking great, with a new seat celebrating John McGahern in the rounded square where the trees were overflowing with leaves on a sunny day. Another plaque was on a building nearby where the late Gus Martin was born.

But it is a shame to see many shops and pubs closed in many towns and villages — and it’s made all the worse when few journalists say anything positive about broadband being brought to the West of Ireland.

It is only when one drives through the towns and villages of rural Ireland that one realises the desperate need for broadband — these are lovely places and we must do all we can to keep them alive and thriving.

Surely we cannot have a two-tier society, where children growing up are not given access to new technologies while the rest of us can enjoy them. No matter the cost, in today’s world broadband is as necessary as water and electricity — especially for students who will be left behind in applying for jobs and getting work at home in Ireland.

It would also keep rural Ireland alive where many could work from their homes, the technology helping them to start a new business.

I would not mind paying a little more tax from my modest pension so that this can happen — but I really feel the technology companies are not paying enough in corporate taxes. We have given them space to set up here, providing them with all the supports — so we should ensure they pay their share of tax.

Why should some of our citizens have to continue fighting for what the rest of us already have? Mary Guckian, Ringsend, Dublin