Madam, - Kevin Lalor (October 7th) complains about broadband coverage in his area. Unfortunately he is not unique. The new EU Broadband Performance Index shows that Ireland is still lagging significantly behind the EU average for broadband penetration.
More importantly, this report also highlights that the broadband debate has shifted. It is no longer good enough to score highly on broadband penetration. Different factors including connection speeds, coverage, prices and level of usage are increasingly used as indicators of true broadband success. This is where Ireland really shows its weakness and the Government's record needs to be judged.
The European Commission developed this new index to measure the performance of EU states on a range of factors, which include speeds, rural coverage, affordability, innovation and other socio-economic dimensions. Ireland comes in a desperate ninth worst out of the EU 27.
The growth in mobile access, which is considerable, is not something to celebrate. Rather it is an indication that where broadband exists in Ireland it is often slow, expensive and unreliable. Renewed efforts to combat the growing "digital divide" in Ireland is crucial to broadband success. - Yours, etc,
LIZ McMANUS TD,
Labour Spokesperson on
Communications,
Energy and Natural Resources,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2.