madam president infrastructural development is crucial to our economic recovery
whereas in the past it was the construction of road and rail that helped stimulate economies in recession and lead the way to future prosperity nowadays we must focus on our information and communications technology infrastructure as a driver of future growth
in this context i wish to draw attention to the appalling situation in ireland of the so-called digital divide
due to years of government neglect in boom times we are now left with broad areas of rural ireland with sub-standard slow connections and worst of all in twenty-eight of cases without any access to broadband
how are we to bring prosperity and opportunity to our rural communities without bringing them the means of achieving these goals
how can we tell our young farmers that they cannot benefit from ict to develop their agri-business industries because we have not provided them with the connectivity
i welcome recent statements by the commission which detail the disbursement of eu funds to address this huge challenge
to conclude we must not lose sight of eliminating the digital divide even in the midst of economic crisis
