Murphy slams Government over roll-out
Interest in investing in County Roscommon has never been higher according to Minister Denis Naughten who says five separate investment visits and meetings have taken place here in the last fortnight.
These opportunities follow the visit of a Chinese investment delegation to the area last July. While no firm commitments have been made by any potential investors, Minister Naughten says the fact that Roscommon and East Galway is on their radar is “a positive in itself.”
“The projects range from tourism to food and from technology to medical, as well as renewable energy and a data centre. The great thing about these projects is that they are spread across County Roscommon and not just focused in one area” explained Denis Naughten.
“…the fact that they are considering locating in our county is significant. In one
instance, namely a technology start-up, we are in the running with cities like London, purely because of the high quality of our
broadband.
“With investment in pure fibre broadband in Roscommon Town, Ballinasloe and many of our villages set to be completed within the next 66 weeks, other companies are now looking to our area as a possible location for their operations.
commitments
“As yet, none of the investors have made a firm commitment to Ireland or our county but the fact that there is such interest is at the very least promising.”
The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment added that he was currently working with three telecoms companies with a view to providing broadband solutions to rural communities in Roscommon and East Galway.
However, Fianna Fáil TD Eugene Murphy has hit out at what he perceives as the Government’s failure to deliver on its commitments to bring high speed broadband to rural Ireland.
Deputy Murphy claimed the announcement that SIRO had pulled out of the tender process was a severe indictment of the National Broadband Plan and could lead to a reluctance to invest in the region.
“Rural Ireland is in desperate need of a high speed broadband infrastructure and now with just two potential bidders in the running for the contract the delivery of the services must be the priority of the Government to ensure that rural Ireland is not left out in the cold once again, unable to attract new business and jobs,” concluded Deputy Murphy.
