Broadband: Newry and Armagh

Part of Adjournment – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 5:45 pm on 24 January 2017.

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Photo of Cathal Boylan Cathal Boylan Sinn Féin 5:45, 24 January 2017

A Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle, I wish you well in your retirement. I have had the privilege of working with you over the last 10 years in the Assembly.

I thank the Member for securing the debate. I say to the Minister that, over the last number of years, we have made progress on the matter. When you look around, you see a lot of new technologies. I want to refer to some people who have already contacted me. The Minister will agree about the key elements: working in partnership and public funds and the responsibility of ensuring that they are spent properly. Those are the key elements of my contribution today.

I know for a fact that, over the past number of years, the Assembly has given money to address the not spots across rural areas. I say that because I want to remind the Minister. When you hear stories like this, you think to yourself, "What exactly have we been trying to do to address the issues?". As recently as 20 January, residents across Armagh city received a letter stating that the superfast broadband team was "delighted" to tell them that superfast broadband was now available on their street. The team had checked the speed line, and certain urban areas could get up to 79 megabytes. Urban settings have been availing themselves of quality broadband for a number of years, so this is no news to us. When we agreed on wanting to go forward to address the issue of broadband — Mr Kennedy has been here on a number of occasions, as has Mr Irwin — the whole idea of the schemes was that they were about rural broadband. I know that the Minister has taken a lot of questions in his time on the matter, and I want to talk to him about some of the issues that I have been dealing with. I want to read some things into the record, just to get a feel of the issues. To be fair to the Member who introduced the debate, he has had similar experiences to most Members in the Chamber.

I will read out this letter to one of my colleagues:

"Dear Mr Brady, I hope you can help me. I am 15 years old, fourth year, and I have started to prepare for my GCSE exams."

This is 14 or 15 months ago, so the young lad is now 16 years of age:

"I need access to BT fibre-optic Internet to keep up with my studies, but BT refuses to connect my house, even though a new fibre-optic cabinet was installed earlier this year at the bottom of my lane, approximately 250 metres from my house."

That letter is from young Matthew Nugent, 58 Tievenamara Road, Keady, BT60 3JA. When his mother enquired on his behalf to BT and talked about an engineering solution, BT said that, if an engineer was asked, it would not be a difficulty. I know that we are working in partnership and that we have given money. In consultation processes with previous Ministers a number of years ago, we used postcodes to identify areas known to Members who have spoken in debates previously as not spots. I have said this on a number of occasions, including to this Minister, and I appreciate him coming to respond to the debate. It will be difficult to address the issue of fibre-optic broadband in all areas. Every Member here will agree that that is the solution that most people who contact us are crying out for.

The Department and BT are offering an alternative satellite solution, which I certainly appreciate. I could read out lists of names all day of people who have contacted me about broadband services and provision — the likes of young Matthew Nugent, Jacqueline McCullough, Martina Gaffney of Tivnacree Road and all these people in rural areas — and I could read out lists of townlands and parishes as well.

We are giving money to BT, but I do not think it has been upfront on this matter. In saying that, I know that, by the end of 2017, we will get another report into where we are and where the new cabinets have been established. At that point, we will need to collate that information and find out where the gaps are in provision.

I will read out another example. It is from a Mrs Helen Hughes at 99b Armagh Road, Newtownhamilton, BT35 0HJ. Mrs Hughes had been having a lot of trouble getting connected to broadband. By way of a bit of background info, she is registered to go on to the Newtownhamilton line, and the box is 8 kilometres away. That does not give her access to suitable broadband. Openreach has been out to get her connected on three separate occasions. Each time the engineers called out, they advised her that she is better off getting connected to the Keady line, which is only 3 kilometres away. Still and all, she is 3 kilometres from the nearest line, but she would not get a connection. For some reason or other, unbeknownst to me, and no matter how many times you contact BT, she cannot be connected to that line.

Minister, I hope you take on board some of the comments today. You still have a number of weeks in office to discuss where the 2017 programme is and to update it. I would ask the question, and it is about a wee bit of common sense. It cannot be hard for this lady to be connected to the line. When we phone BT or have meetings with them and talk about an engineering solution, they say to us, "It is not a problem", but that is the end of the conversation. I want — I hope this is the case — the money we are giving to BT to be responsible, value for money and to provide a service, particularly to those rural people. That is the basis of why the Member brought the debate today. Like I said, there is no point coming to tell us that urban speeds are up; it is people in rural areas who are crying out to be connected.