Thomas Pringle TD
Home / Latest News / Recent Broadband delays will set-back remote counties like Donegal most says Pringle

Recent Broadband delays will set-back remote counties like Donegal most says Pringle

Broadband Document pic

Press Release:
April 27th, 2016

The Department of Communications this week confirmed that procurement is to be delayed until 2017 causing concern that the process could now take between three to five years (until 2022) before the plan is fully realised.
Deputy Pringle claims the delay “reveals the inherently flawed nature of the National Broadband Plan and the Government’s incapacity to manage the large scale infrastructural upgrade people have long been waiting for”.
The Independent TD for Donegal explains that the original plan set out to begin procurement by the middle of 2016 delivering broadband to 85% of premises by 2018 and 100% by 2020. “This Plan was delayed last year revealing some places in Donegal could wait until 2021, six years for delivery. Now this has been pushed back another year to 2022.”
Speaking on the issue Deputy Pringle says “I’d expect more delays down the road. It seems to be the pattern that the Plan is met with set-backs at each phase. Ultimately remote places like Donegal will end up paying for these delays the most and we can’t afford that in rural Ireland”.
Pringle explains “the Government has mismanaged the Plan from the get go. There’s been private company duplication of broadband provision in urban centres such as Letterkenny while remote areas still wait on the Government’s Plan to materialise. Just a few weeks ago there was confusion from Eir’s announcement to provide broadband to 300,000 homes despite the fact these homes were already under the National Broadband Plan. And now the explanation for further delays is that it’s a complicated process”.
“To top it off we still don’t know what type of broadband technology will be used. It’s important we know the highest standard will be achieved through the procurement process including fibre to home high speed broadband. My Broadband policy document published last year called for the guarantee of future-proof technology in any Government roll-out plan.” concludes Pringle.
ENDS

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