Rural anger at 'non existent broadband'

Businesses in rural county Meath are furious at what they describe as a practically non existent broadband service which is seriously impacting their livelihoods.
Adrian Corcoran of Fordstown Post Office and Daybreak says the lack of broadband is a huge issue for his business.
While most shops use broadband for the National Lottery, Corcoran’s must rely on satellite broadband, which Adrian explained gives problems if it is windy.
“I can watch my cameras through my iPhone from home. I could watch them in China, but I can’t watch them here,” he commented.
“Post office transactions have to be online, but it is so slow,
“Even the mobile phone signal is poor and the lack of proper broadband is a major problem for all residents living in and around Fordstown.
“We are not in the back of beyonds. We are in between two majors towns, Kells and Athboy.  
“During the local election campaign the politicians all promised us we’d have proper broadband by now, but nothing has happened yet,” he said.
Michael McBride who runs the Topaz Filling Station and shop at Stackallen also has major issues with broadband.
“We have customers filling up their cars with petrol and diesel and they come in to pay with their debit or credit cards.
“It can take up to ten minutes to process a payment. If that happens to them once or twice, they won’t come back again,” he says.
“Nowadays everything is paid for by card. With new contactless payment, people come in and pay for cups of coffee with cards.
“When we are cashing up at night it can take up to an hour because the connection breaks down several times and you have to start again.
“Even ordering online causes problems,” he said,
“We had to switch back to dial-up because even if it is slow, it is reliable.”
Michael points out that he is only 30 miles from the capital city.
“We can see the lights of Dublin from here, but we cannot get proper broadband,” he says.
“We have been on to our local politicians and we have been told for years, the service will be upgraded, but nothing has improved,” he said.
Meanwhile the disgraceful state of the road system as well as mobile and internet coverage in North Meath has been described as making a mockery of the government’s Action Plan for Jobs.
Businesses in North Meath have survived in spite of the government’s lack of effort, according to Cllr Johnny Guirke.  
“The government and the county council have devoted huge resources to come up with two separate plans to create the same jobs, projected years into the future; and then there’s the government’s Ancient East Trail, set to bring record tourist numbers to the hinterland of the likes of Kells and Lough Crew, even though our local road system and  mobile and internet coverage is a disgrace.”
He said that despite a plethora of new plans promising growth and prosperity, the government and county council can’t seem to get even the most basic things right for the people of north Meath.
He urged Meath’s five TDs and senator who are supporting the government to engage directly with the innovators, entrepreneurs and employers of north Meath.
“Minister English spoke passionately about how the Mid-East Jobs plan would benefit the east’s Boyne Valley, while not one of the many happy companies highlighted in the council’s 70 page development strategy document are based in north Meath.  
“The colourful strategy document has 36 different 'Priority Actions’, requiring the input of dozens of different stakeholders for the delivery of the jobs, yet no date for the delivery of decent broadband or roads.”
Cllr Guirke said that with more than 20 percent of the population, the Kells Electoral Area has the highest levels of light industry and indigenously owned businesses in the county.
“Be it a B&B, a shop, a farm, an accountancy office, or a multinational, if you don’t have broadband, and if you don’t have the roads to get your goods to market, or to get your staff and customers to you, you can forget about effectively targeting new business.”
He pointed out that regular reports from Teagasc and Pobal consistently rank the towns of north Meath amongst the most under resourced in the country.
“The government made much noise in 2014 over the inclusion of the Kells Electoral Area on the new EU Regional Aid map, but we’ve seen no investment.
“All we’ve had is a constant rehashing of existing data, dressed up as new plans by consultancy firms at huge cost to the taxpayer.
“It’s layer upon layer of hyperbole which means absolutely nothing for north Meath if we don’t have good roads and high speed broadband, the most basic requirements to create economic stimulus, inward investment and long term growth.”

A spokesperson for Eir said they had committed to reaching 300,000 homes and businesses specifically in a more rural context and expect to complete that work ahead of their initial deadline of 2020

'When completed, our commercial rollout will reach 80 per cent of all the homes and businesses in Ireland. The remaining premises will be included in the Government’s National Broadband Plan and Eir is delighted to successfully proceed to the next phase of the tender process,' he said