'Frustration and impatience' over national broadband roll-out in Mayo

Minister of State Ossian Smyth has stated he is willing to visit Mayo to speak with those unhappy with the progress of the national broadband infrastructure in the county.

He was responding to a statement by Castlebar TD Alan Dillon who told Deputy Smyth there is a real frustration and an impatience among the people in Mayo, especially around the anticipation and the lack of visibility of National Broadband Ireland (NBI) on the ground.

"I appreciate that there was over 4,800 households in Mayo who are expected to be connected at the end of this year.

"What we need now as public representatives is to assure our communities that this is coming and that we have accurate and realistic timelines.

"Remote working has made a huge contribution to local communities in Mayo but we need high-speed fibre to enable people to work from home. There are over 36,000 premises in Mayo that need this and they are counting on the government to deliver it," explained Deputy Dillon.

In response, Minister of State Smyth said not everybody in Mayo will be connected at the same time.

"The connections will start at the exchanges and move outwards. There will be different deployment areas and some areas will come on stream before others.

"I have asked NBI to provide the most detailed information that it can, and it has provided more.

"I want it to be realistic with people and state that they are, at present, five years or whatever away so that people would see and be able to make decisions based on that.

"In the meantime, we can connect broadband connection points.

"Deputy Dillon can get his local GAA club or community hall connected up so that that can be a hub.

"It is a temporary solution while one is waiting for the roll-out to arrive. Also, we are connecting all the primary schools and they will be done by next year.

"I am happy to go out to Mayo and to meet with people there or to visit particular areas. I am also happy to give Deputy Dillon the most detailed information I can on how we have done on surveys in Mayo, or which areas are due next.

"I welcome any suggestions from Deputy Dillon on how I could present the data better as I want to be as open as possible on this project all the time."

Deputy Dillon: "I thank the Minister of State. I will take him up on that offer. I have engaged with NBI and the information has been shared at any request.

"The delivery of this will be a true game-changer in rural Ireland. The Minister of State is doing everything possible within the department to get this done as quickly as possible. The importance of this for rural communities cannot be understated.

"On the likes of the hubs that have been implemented along with the local authorities, there is still a bit of work to be done on that but I welcome the allocation of funding.

"We just need to keep the pressure on NBI, the contractor, to ensure that it delivers on its commitments on a yearly and monthly basis."