Parts of north Cork won't be surveyed for broadband until 2026

A meeting of the council's northern division was told that several parts of the region will now not be surveyed for broadband connectivity for a number of years. Picture: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

The head of Cork County Council's environment directorate has expressed “disappointment” at the slower than envisaged rollout of broadband in parts of the county.

Louis Duffy told a council meeting that progress on the national rollout was not looking as good as was initially proposed, especially in some areas of North Cork.

Mr Duffy informed a meeting of the council's northern division that several parts of the region will now not be surveyed for broadband connectivity for a number of years.

He said the Kanturk area survey was to take place in 2023 to 2024 and parts of the Fermoy area running eastwards towards Tallow, Co Waterford, could be surveyed as late as 2025 and 2026.

This prompted a major debate among councillors, with Fianna Fáil councillor Frank O'Flynn declaring: “Our national broadband plan is an absolute disgrace.”

“They [the service providers] must have forgotten completely about North Cork,” he added.

Both he and Fine Gael councillor Noel McCarthy said they'd been contacted by the managing director of a company based in the Fermoy area who couldn't get a connection to a cable which was just 200m away.

“The company is investing in new offices which will need high-speed broadband. They are dealing with a lot of companies worldwide on a 24/7 basis. They can't wait. We must write to the minister responsible and get a timeframe for actual delivery and forget about these surveys,” Mr O'Flynn said.

Fine Gael councillor Liam Madden said some delivery targets in the area were only at about 15% of what they should be, “which is outrageous".

He said so many people now wanted to work from home because of Covid-19, yet for many that was now an impossible dream.

'It's a complete shambles'

Cork County Council environment director Louis Duffy said 'Eir is a difficult company to get information from'.

Labour councillor James Kennedy said he was also aware of companies in the Mallow area who couldn't get a proper connection, just like the one in Fermoy. “It's a complete shambles, I think. It's a disgrace,” he added.

“We need to write to the minister. We need area specific updates. In the Corrin View estate [in Fermoy] half the residents have really great broadband and it's poor for the other half,” Mr McCarthy said.

“It's certainly disappointing that the surveys will now only be completed within three to five years' time,” Mr Duffy said.

He added he is shortly to meet with broadband provider Siro, who along with Eir are the main companies involved in the national rollout.

He said he would seek more definitive answers on Siro's plans for certain parts of the county and report back to councillors.

Mr Duffy added that “Eir is a difficult company to get information from”. 

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil councillor Ian Doyle asked why a fibre optic cable network laid down in Charleville some years ago couldn't be enhanced to provide more broadband connections for householders and businesses in that area.

“That technology has moved on. That was probably put in 15 years ago. It's not generally seen as easy to connect individual businesses to it,” Mr Duffy replied.

He said after the meeting he would use the information gathered to help councillors write a letter to the minister responsible for the national rollout.

Mr Duffy asked councillors to provide him with more detail on the complaints they had mentioned which he would raise at the meeting.