It was revealed today that the National Broadband Strategy which was to ensure that every citizen and business would have access to high speed broadband by 2020 will now not be fully rolled out until 2022 at the earliest.
This follows a Dáil Question tabled by Sinn Féin Finance Spokesperson Deputy Pearse Doherty to the Minister for Communications in which he was asked to give a timeline for the completion of the multi-million euro intervention strategy.
In his reply, Minister Alex White confirmed that all premises would not be connected for at least another five years after the procurement process which is expected to be completed in 2017.
Speaking today, Deputy Doherty said, "This delay is simply not acceptable and the pushing back of the expected roll-out of high speed broadband is yet another slap in the face for rural areas which remain without good quality broadband connections."
He added, "The Government has been forced to hold its hands up and admit that they lied about the timeframe for the completion of the National Broadband Plan, and what’s worse is that they actively sought to mislead people simply for their own political gain."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
