Irish Times letter

naitkris

OK, I just did my bit to support the Ireland Offline campaign and sent The Irish Times a letter a few hours ago with my views on this whole Internet mess going on in this country. It probably will not get printed (The Irish Times, like eircom and the media in general, seem to think Internet access is not a really important issue – I feel this is the case anyway) but I thought I’d post it here so at least any “passers by” would be able to absorb some of it’s content. It has been slightly edited by eircomtribunal (so thanks also to him and it was also his idea for me to send them a letter after a similar post by me in this forum). Oh btw, if anyone sees it printed, give me a shout by private message or something as I don’t buy The Irish Times being the poor student that I am. I could have also sent it to the Independent, but doubt they’d take a second look at it seeing as they’re in bed with eircom on the FRIACO deal (judging by a previous thread).

START OF LETTER

State of Internet access in Ireland

Dear Madam,

As a foreign student in Ireland I cannot understand why broadband or even flat-rate dial-up Internet access is unavailable in a country which has been ranked the most globalised of 62 states. It borders on the ridiculous that Ireland, with a well-educated workforce and a large high-tech industry can be ranked as number one when it falls so short in terms of Internet connectivity.

My home country, Sweden (which was ranked third in the Globalisation Index) has DSL Internet access available for as little as 28 Euro a month no matter whether you are living in a city or in the very north of Lapland. Compare that with a price of 107 Euro for DSL in Ireland and a very limited availability. Despite being seven times the size of Ireland geographically and only two and half times the population, the Swedish Government took the responsibility of ensuring that broadband Internet access was made available without delay. Broadband is seen as important as basic roads to Sweden's infrastructure in order to increase investment, further growth and the standard of education there.

Surely Ireland must wake up to the fact that in order to retain the country's attractiveness for foreign investment, Internet access and broadband in particular have to be improved rapidly. Ireland's success in recent years, among other factors, rides very much on the investment into Ireland from overseas. The high-tech industry here was mainly created due to foreign investment but this is in jeopardy unless Ireland is willing to be high-tech itself and take Internet infrastructure seriously.

END OF LETTER

Notes:
1. I’ve tried to remain as diplomatic as possible - hopefully this has come across (although I am half-Irish in blood <though not nationality>, this is not told in the letter in order to put a different slant on things and show that things are so bad that even foreigners are starting to complain).

2. 107 Euro - I know that Esat have DSL for 59 Euro apparently, but this is a) not well advertised and b) not available in my area (Glanmire, Co. Cork – which is a pretty big residential area of Cork). The 107 Euro is to at the same time ask why it is almost 4 times as expensive here and thus put the question mark over eircom (not esat), which we all know is the biggest obstacle to the availability of broadband.

3. When I state that it is “unavailable” in Ireland, I mean that in the context that it is both unaffordable to the average Internet user and just unavailable to most Internet users in this country, which is pretty much the same as saying it’s unavailable to “Ireland in general”.

4. The main aim is the letters impact and relevance to the average Irish Times reader and for it to be of relevance to everyone rather than just savvy Internet users. I do not want to bore them all to much and so have tried to include the facts that matter most while also keeping it not too long and finishing with a sort of question over what will happen if Ireland does not take serious action and fast.

I have read The Irish Times (and the Independent and Examiner) the odd time at college and elsewhere but I really do feel that there isn’t as much coverage of the whole lack of Internet infrastructure and broadband availabilitity as there should be. Also, when they do write something it’s usually only a small little article in the business pages. If you ask me, it should be in the main section of the paper as it is a topic that is relevant to the general public as well.

Hope the letter is not too bad, English is not me my mother tongue.

- naitkris

spongebob

spot on

Congratulations

BoneCollector

. I’ve tried to remain as diplomatic as possible - hopefully this has come across (although I am half-Irish, this is not told in the letter in order to put a different slant on things and show that things are so bad that even foreigners are starting to complain

Ahum! slight flaw there... since you have just made an admission of the fact your irish.. dont you thing someone from the irish time MAY be reading your post here?

naitkris

no half-Irish (through blood), that doesn't mean my nationality is Irish (I have a Swedish passport and citizenship but I don't have this for Ireland, only residency) if this answers your question. On that note, nationalities are getting very mixed nowadays aren't they? I'm born in Sydney, Australia as well just to confuse things further :-).

I don't think the Irish Times read through the IOFFL forum much as if they do, they do a very bad job in such case of portraying what is actually an important and much talked about topic. I believe in freedom of information and can't be bothered who reads what, as the Irish Times probably won't print my letter anyway and that goes back to the reason why I have posted the letter in the IOFFL forum in the first place.

Hannibal_12

Doubt anyone in the Irish Times knows what the internet is, not least a forum, so I think you're safe.

pork99

Good man! The more counter views in the media to the likes of Dr Philips "Bambi" Nolan the better!

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it people will eventually come to believe it" as the good doctor once said (Dr Goebbels not the lovely Dr Nolan though the influence on the latter is apparent)

<edit>

Pork99 ... calling Phil, "Goebbels" ... might be a wee bit insensitive/extremist ...

There MDR - I've changed "Goebbels" to "Bambi", a fluffy Disney character - what could be more agreeable than that?

But I stand by the quote. Not calling Philip Nolan a Nazi. The quote fits the situation, thats all.

</edit>

MDR

Very eloquent letter ... good man

Pork99 ... calling Phil, "Goebbels" ... might be a wee bit insensitive/extremist ... ok he is a git I won't argue with that ... but I feel its a bit too far .

Dangger

Result!

Great letter naitkris, it's published in today's (16/1/03) Irish Times.

Mr E

Congrats, naitkris!

- Dave.

vinnyfitz

Anybody feel like writing or emailing a reply? (to lettersed@irish-times.ie)
We might kick up a bit of a debate which would do no harm.

scojones

Excellent! We need more of this sort of thing. I'm going downstairs to by the irish times now

naitkris

wow - it actually got published!

anyways just a thought for everyone posting on the IOFFL forum: if you want others to hear your views and at the same time give the whole broadband issue some more media coverage why not start making letters like my one in the Irish Times a regular feature? It's no harder than posting to this board (except for the emailing part and all the spelling and grammatical errors being taken out!).

come on guys, maybe someone can start by replying to my letter, I'll start it for you:

"Dear Madam,
In response to... on 16/01/2002, I am in agreement.... I feel that more can be... blah blah..."

see - not too difficult!

seamus

I've had a couple of non-Internet ones published in the Indo, it's not too difficult, as long as you're coherent, and make some points.

Problem is, when I write about Internet stuff it tends to rant and go a bit long, and probably get a bit technical , but if a debate builds up, I'll send off a quicke to the times (or maybe even try to crack the eircom-friendly fortress of the Indo :eek: )

Ardmore

Originally posted by naitkris
Compare that with a price of 107 Euro for DSL in Ireland and a very limited availability.

Did they leave that bit out in the letter they printed? I just had a quick look at it at home last night, and I don't remember them mentioning the rats price.

naitkris

Originally posted by Ardmore
Did they leave that bit out in the letter they printed? I just had a quick look at it at home last night, and I don't remember them mentioning the rats price.

yes, as with most media, censorship and so on in is common place even in democratic, free countries such as Ireland. In fairness though, I think printing Eircom's price is a bit dodgy as it is targeting them directly from The Irish Times point of view. At least the message that it is expensive here got across and that was my aim. That said, they did edit my letter and tweaked it here and there, but it was nothing huge and that has to happen to fix grammatical things and make the letter "more to the point".

look forward to seeing some more letters to the Irish Times from different angles - it is needed and if there is enough - The Irish Times may start to realise just how important an issue it is that they end up giving more space to it in the paper.