Broadband won’t save rural Ireland

Pat Spillane recently joined the growing chorus of the great and the good in claiming that rural Ireland would be saved by broadband. As someone who has spent over 60 years in the countryside, I disagree.

More than a month before Christmas 2016, my local postman was provided with a van three times the size of his usual vehicle. He told me the reason was the huge increase in the volume of parcels from abroad, mainly ordered on the internet.

The Department of Agriculture insists farmers apply for schemes online and payments are issued directly to bank accounts, depriving rural post offices of revenue. Paying utility bills and insurance over the internet attracts savings of at least 10%.

A wise old farmer once told me: ‘If you see a big crowd going one way, you should take off your coat and run in the opposite direction.’ Martin Murphy, Co. Clare.