Ger O’Sullivan: ‘It’s like being in the Stone Age in 2015’

Every week Ger O'Sullivan, an internet engineer, gets into his car and drives 1,000km to and from Cork city.

Mr O’Sullivan is one of the residents of the Coomhola- Borlin valley in west Cork outside Bantry.

The valley is home to 380 households and about 1,000 people. Some 40 small businesses also operate there.

These include a compost- making factory, a conservatory business, a home-improvement firm, a language school, booksellers, artists, musicians and plumbers all attracted by the beauty and cosmopolitan nature of west Cork.

Mr O’Sullivan no longer has access to the internet at home.

Unreliable

He had satellite broadband but it was so expensive and unreliable that he gave it up.

He drives the 100km to Mahon Point every day to work as an IT specialist.

He could work from home and cut out the 200km daily commute if he had a decent internet service.

Most of the people in the valley received broadband through the National Broadband Scheme, which was set up by the Government to provide wireless or, in extreme cases, satellite broadband to more than 1,000 rural communities across Ireland.

The Government provided subsidised broadband using 3 Mobile as the network provider.

It cost householders €20.32 a week.

The scheme ended in August last year having cost the exchequer €80 million.

“The coverage was terrible. It could be good one day and bad the next,” says Mr O’Sullivan.

“They oversubscribed the numbers. They couldn’t handle the load.

“We surveyed the businesses locally and they said: ‘We can’t do this any more. What is the Government going to do?’ There are people up and down the valley who can’t rent or sell holiday homes,” he says.

“If you want to put it bluntly, we’re being discriminated against.

“It’s like being in the Stone Age in 2015.”