Swinford community hubs
Senator Burke welcomes the Minister's visit to Swinford to launch community hubs and credits earlier legislation and his amendment for enabling community use of former courthouses. The Chair and others respond with light banter, but the item remains focused on the Swinford launch.
The Leas-Chathaoirleach has caught me by surprise.
Comment on this
It is very seldom that Senator Burke is caught offside. Indeed, I have yet to experience it. I see Senator Chambers nodding.
Comment on this
Today, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, will be in Swinford, County Mayo, which Senator Chambers will know well, launching community hubs, and we welcome that launch very much in Swinford today. This House played a major part in that regard. In 2009 or 2010, when the Courts Service Bill was going through the House, I tabled an amendment to the effect that when changes were made to the Courts Service and some courthouses were closing, they could not be sold off and would be given to the community, with the result that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is announcing one of those hubs in Swinford today.
As Senator Chambers will also know, businesses on Main Street, Castlebar, have very poor broadband facilities. If that continues, it will result in those businesses having to leave their premises on Main Street and move to the rural part of the town, where there is much greater broadband bandwidth. We have some great businesses in the centre of the town. Vaughan Shoes, for instance, won an award for its online retail sales - it was the best in the country. We have Egan Jewellers, Stauntons Pharmacy and a whole host of businesses that cannot operate to full capacity due to the broadband bandwidth available. Something will have to be urgently done about that. I call on the Deputy Leader, Senator Chambers, to arrange for a debate on broadband and the facilities and opportunities it brings about. On the one hand, a hub is being opened in Swinford today and, on the other hand, the capital town of County Mayo has very poor broadband width, which leaves it at a major disadvantage. Businesses there are suffering and may have to move from the centre to the rural part of the town, which would be a disaster for the town. We have to keep our town centres intact. That is where people congregate and business hubs begin. I ask the Deputy Leader to arrange a debate on broadband services.