Shane Ross article in SIndo on Irish broadband mess

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Quote:

Thursday

A night at the Irish Internet Association's 'net visionary' awards in the Mansion House.
It is a sell-out. These guys are at the coalface of Ireland's economic boom. There are billions of euro sitting at the dinner tables.

I launch a broadside against Ireland's broadband deficit.

Why are we so behind the rest of Europe on broadband?

Well, Leinster House is laden with Luddites. Its IT system is antedeluvian and no one in Government gives a toss. Half our TDs do not seem to know how to open a laptop.
The younger breed at the Irish Internet Association bash are at last beginning to deliver the message that broadband is as vital for business today as transport , roads and airports were yesterday.

The Government will have to provide the money. No need for a string of new quangos but a National Broadband Authority with a budget, a limited life and instructions to deliver penetration by a deadline date to every house in Ireland is essential.

So far the multinationals do not seem to have rumbled our appalling situation. But last week John McElligott, managing director of eBay, told me that he was "more concerned than ever regarding the current state of our broadband connectivity".

He warned against complacency and asked a far more awkward question: "How can we be confident that we will be leaders of the next generation network?"
We should listen to John. He is the Irish boss of an influential multinational.

Even Northern Ireland, hardly a hotbed of high-tech nerds, has shown us a clean set of heels.

In that supposedly devastated wasteland the UK government has installed universal broadband access.

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http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/the-great-irish-bank-robbery-1222459.html

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Sponge Bob

Shane also made some speeches in the senate. He has been the most consistent and forceful member of the Oireachtas on the need to provide the glue underpinning any realistic form of Knowledge Economy , namely universal access to knowledge through universal broadband. EG.

http://www.shane-ross.ie/archives/217/govt-committee-recognises-our-pitiful-broadband-record/

Long may he continue doing so !

old boy

prob is he is alone, all the yes ministers and yes sirs will keep their yap shut until told otherwise

Sponge Bob

as Shane said , correctly, most of them cannot even open their laptops

Bass Cadet

Until there is a massive profit to be made out of the Irish broadband market for providers and government alike, we'll always be waaaay behind the rest of Europe -Good 'ol Capitalism eh?

croo

Quote:
broadband is as vital for business today as transport , roads and airports were yesterday.

No yesteryear government of ours ever delivered on world class "transport , roads and airports" either .... so really why are we surprised they failed to deliver the required infrastructure for our future?

Nehaxak

Sure most of our government (and opposition parties) can't even wipe their own arse without a consultant helping them out so it doesn't suprise me that they couldn't open a laptop.

They need to do what was done (and better) before in Kerry/West Cork with SW regional Broadband authority/initiative - Give the whole debacle over to a general public group with interested (and understanding/capable) junior government minister involvent and incorporating business interests from the likes of Intel, Microsoft, Goggle/Ebay etc.,

Whatever is put forward and throughout testing, educational institutes should also be included for both their needs and opinions on continued service levels.

There were plenty of suggestions that were put forward by the Ireland Offline grouping when it was up and running - nearly all of it ignored by government and comreg.

If this issue is not taken seriously then big business will go elsewhere for their needs, it's only a matter of time before they get pissed off enough at the lack of serious movement from government.

It's not rocket science ffs, this is all basically simple stuff - it just requires someone or group of people with enough initiative and willingness to see it through to the end without their grubby hands in a monopolised profiteering racket that is our ex national provider and all that they still have their dirty fingers in.

If an Irish NGO can organise for a kit with VSAT, WiMax, VOIP and it all self powered - in to places like tChad and be easily installed and maintained. Go feckin' talk with them on what and how they're doing it and clearly how they manage to keep within budgetary restraints typically incurred by charities.
I'm sure their IT people would be only too delighted to take on board the ability to be involved with any Irish broadband working group to come up with feasible options for high bandwidth at cheap costs and for it to be easily maintained and run.

Hell, give me 6 months at the reign and I'll have at least 100Mb broadband available to every home in the country before the end of 2008.

gimmeabrk07

slightly off topic but did'nt shane's boss tony o'reilly make a bomb out of the breakup of eircom. mabe he should have asked o'reilly to hold onto his shares and invest in the infrastructure of eircom instead of stripping it to the bone