Sinn Féin Councillor Gary Doherty has demanded that Eircom immediately put plans in place to upgrade the telephone exchange in St Johnston.
The village is still without a fixed line broadband service. Councillor Doherty proposed the motion at today’s adjourned meeting of Donegal County Council.
Speaking today Cllr Doherty said “It is nothing short of a disgrace that a village such as St Johnston is without a proper fixed line broadband service in 2014. Broadband is a vital resource for business and it is an insult to the people of the village that they have been left behind for so long.
“There is an exchange in St Johnston but it has never been ADSL enabled despite plans being put in place a number of years ago which would have facilitated an upgrade to a broadband service. I have been in contact with Eircom and they have refused to confirm whether a broadband service is available in St Johnston, when I know that it is not.
“Previous Governments have attempted to take credit for the roll out of broadband in the village under the National Broadband Scheme. This scheme saw mobile broadband provided by 3 offered to residents in the village, but that has been a limited success at best. Anyone with experience of mobile broadband will now that it is temperamental and the service provided is not sufficient to support business users. Due to a huge subscription in St Johnston it can be painfully slow particularly at peak times and this is despite close proximity to the transmitter.”
He continued “Eircom are neglecting Donegal as far as I’m concerned. We have areas such as St Johnston which have no broadband service. And then we have towns like Ballybofey that do have a broadband service but Eircom are refusing to roll out their fibre optic service to the centre of the town, yet they are supplying it to residential areas. To me it stands to reason that the businesses in the town should be the priority when it comes to upgrading the existing broadband.
“I am demanding action from Eircom to rectify this situation. I would also call on the Minister for Communication Pat Rabbitte to step in and exercise his influence to force movement from Eircom. This situation cannot be allowed to continue.”
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