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LAWLESS : GOVT MUST ADDRESS BROADBAND PLAN CONCERNS

James Lawless TD spoke in the Dáil this week during the debate on the National Broadband Plan

“As vice chair of the Committee on Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, our committee conducted a detailed scrutiny of the plan and found the current tender is massively over budget and overly complex. The department of public expenditure has also found that the cost benefit analysis is not positive. The cost of the plan has been escalating while the number of homes requiring intervention reduced constantly due to ever more installations and technology adaptions by the private sector. Imagine are already offering broadband to 80,000 houses and Eir to 300,000 that were due to be subsidized by the exchequer. Rather than ignoring the concerns surrounding the NBP, the Government should address them before committing billions of euro of public money.”

You can watch James speak here

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LAWLESS BASHES BROADBAND PLAN

James Lawless was on Radio 1’s Today With Miriam discussing the National Broadband Plan

James said the government have managed to drive it 6 times over budget, 3 times over due, to 1/3 less houses and still plan at the end to give it all away to a private company.

James commented, “Yesterday’s report by the Communications Committee, of which I am vice chair, raises really serious concerns about the tender process and follows a majority Dáil vote, Department of Public Expenditure and the Public Accounts Committee in finding that this tender is way over price and over spec and risks wasting billions of taxpayers money to achieve what could be done much faster and cheaper.”

You can listen to James’ interview here

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O’ROURKE CRITICISES GOVERNMENT APPROACH TO RURAL BROADBAND

Frank O’Rourke TD has said that broadband must be delivered to rural parts of Kildare as soon as possible, as he criticised the Government’s lazy approach to the Broadband Roll-out Plan

There are many locations throughout North Kildare, even within a few kilometres of one of the world’s best known IT companies, where access to broadband is limited or even non-existent.

“High quality broadband is crucial for small businesses, and for many families and young people where there is an increasing opportunity to work from home or a requirement to access the internet for educational needs,” stated Deputy O’Rourke. Continue reading “O’ROURKE CRITICISES GOVERNMENT APPROACH TO RURAL BROADBAND”

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O’ROURKE URGES GREATER RURAL ACCESS TO BROADBAND

Frank O’Rourke TD has welcomed the publication of a recent survey by IBEC which states that nearly 80% of Kildare premises now have access to High speed broadband

However he says that gaps in broadband services in Kildare need to be addressed.

“Kildare has the second best connectivity out of the 26 counties in the country. However, we need to ensure that gaps in the service in rural areas in Kildare  are addressed.” Continue reading “O’ROURKE URGES GREATER RURAL ACCESS TO BROADBAND”

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LAWLESS PRESSES FOR ACTION ON BROADBAND

Despite the recent publication of the Report of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce, communities in Kildare will still have to wait until 2023 at the earliest to access high quality broadband services

James Lawless TD commented, “This is simply not good enough from the Government. The report suggests a number of initiatives which I believe are window dressing. There is no need to undergo another mapping exercise to see where there are mobile broadband blackspots. The mobile phone operators know exactly where coverage is poor. In my own constituency I have worked on improving high speed broadband services in North West Kildare, Kill and Eadestown. Meeting with Eir, Imagine and other providers I have informed them of these blackspots and will continue to bring these to their attention.” Continue reading “LAWLESS PRESSES FOR ACTION ON BROADBAND”