Representatives from the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) held a meeting today (Friday, March 12) with National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the body charged with rolling-out fibre broadband in rural Ireland.
Speaking after the meeting, Martin Stapleton, the IFA national treasurer, called on the government to accelerate the implementation of the programme in rural areas.
“Rural dwellers, farmers and rural business owners need access to high-quality broadband,” Stapleton said.
While the roll-out of the national broadband programme is to be welcomed, the current seven-year target needs to be revised and made more ambitious.
Stapleton also highlighted the pressure that farm families without quality broadband have come under during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Many have found the lack of access to good broadband has severely curtailed their ability to conduct their daily business and access the online services necessary to run their farms and homes. This is simply not good enough,” the IFA national treasurer argued.
He welcomed a commitment from NBI to “advance their discussion with the government about an accelerated roll-out of the programme”.
If the government ambitions of facilitating more remote working from rural areas is to be met, then they need to intervene to bring the roll-out of the programme forward.
“Any commitments around this must focus on the areas that are deprived of a service most. In the current model, those most in need will be last in line,” Stapleton argued.