Councillor calls on broadband providers to tackle blackspots
Fianna Fáil Councillor in the Rosslare LEA, Lisa McDonald, has called on Wexford County Council to urgently engage with providers to tackle the large number of broadband black spots in rural areas of the county.
At a meeting of Wexford County Council, Cllr. McDonald called for the local authority’s Broadband Officer to liaise with providers, in particular Eir, as a matter of urgency with the country back in lockdown.
‘As the country re-enters tough but necessary Level 5 restrictions, many people who need functional high-speed broadband are deprived of it. Members of our communities who are ‘cocooning’ may not be able to video call their loved ones, secondary school students may miss out on vital online classes and employers and employees may not be able to connect to important work-related meetings, all because of the abysmal broadband speeds in these black spots, said Cllr. McDonald.
‘The failure of successive governments to prioritise the roll-out of high-speed broadband to rural areas is now leading to preventable inequality within society. For example, students studying from home in these black spots in rural Wexford should be on a level playing field with a student studying in an urban area, but unfortunately this is not the case’. ‘I am happy to confirm that the Broadband Officer of Wexford County
Council has agreed to my suggestion and I am hopeful that this important issue will be addressed urgently’, said Cllr. McDonald.