THE roll out of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) to rural Kerry is not progressing as quick as it should, according to Green Party Tralee Representative, Anluan Dunne.
As of January 2023, 27,682 premises had fibre connections made available across all 26 counties. By January, there were 6,466 premises that were available to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband in the Killarney and Tralee Deployment Areas, with 1,593 connections already made to the network.
Mr. Dunne said: “Rural high speed broadband is a necessity for every household, farm, local shop, school and business. I work in technology and would be unable to live in Kerry were it not for the fibre broadband connection available to me.”
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“We have an opportunity, post-pandemic, to attract people to our county but there is a lack of fibre broadband connectivity in many areas where housing is available. Investing in rural Ireland involves making working and living in rural areas possible through the provision of critical infrastructure like this. I have written to Minister Ossian Smyth urgently seeking accelerated roll out of rural broadband in Kerry. Having a diverse mix of employment is important. Rural Kerry is not only farming and tourism. It’s a great place to work, as I do, for technology firms or other businesses who have embraced remote working. The potential economic and community benefits are huge.”
“We have many areas of outstanding natural beauty in Kerry where people would love to live, but due to a lack of low latency broadband it’s a non-runner for them. To date, areas such as The Black Valley, which was the last part of Ireland to be electrified in the mid 1970s, have been overlooked again. We need to deliver for these communities far quicker than we have to date.
“At present people in The Black Valley are again last on the list for a critical piece of infrastructure and I think this is wrong. I have asked the Minister to consider funding accelerated deployment of high-speed broadband in Kerry. This would bring huge benefits to local communities, support schools & sports clubs and help to drive economic activity,” said Mr Dunner
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