Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh has welcomed the announcement that over 90 per cent of county Kilkenny will have broadband access within the next two years. She warned however that big promises had been made by government before but had not been delivered upon.
“The CSO recently informed us that Ireland has almost the lowest level of broadband access in Europe. This embarrassing statistic is holding us back from reaching our enterprise potential.
“I have a concern about the methodology used to assess broadband availability. The government decides that broadband is available in an area if even only a single house or school in the neighbourhood has access to it.
“However, many houses cannot access broadband as signals are blocked by hills or other obstacles – this is the case in my own area. People have told me that they’ve had to put their laptops in the car and drive to the top of the nearest hill to send and receive e-mail – that is no way to run a business in a rural community. So I would hope that the promised broadband availability means what it says.
“North Kilkenny is simply being held back by the pathetic levels of broadband available to homes and businesses. We live in an era when broadband is necessary for so many things – for students, for businesses, to pay bills – it is part of the fabric of everyday life. Those who are denied access to broadband are at a serious disadvantage.”
“I am calling on the Government to ensure that all houses, schools and businesses in Kilkenny have access to broadband within the timeframe promised. Our economic recovery is dependent on the availability of these basic services.
