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Leathanbhanda gan a bheith chomh fairsing
Níl an tseirbhís leathanbhanda gar a bheith chomh fairsing in Iarthar na tíre agus atá tugtha síos ar léarscáilanna na Roinne Acmhainni Nádúrtha agus Cumarsáide - sin de réir staidéar atá déanta i dtrí chontae.
Fuarthas é seo amach cheana féin i gcontaetha Liatroma agus Ros Comáin agus tá an rud céanna léirithe i dtorthaí staidéar a rinneadh i gContae na Gaillimhe le gairid. Cuireadh an cháipéis sin ós comhair Chomhairle Chontae na Gaillimhe an tseachtain seo caite agus dúradh nach bhféadfai brath ar léarscáileanna na Roinne, ná an t-eolas a chuireann siad ar fáil faoi sheirbhísí leathanbhanda, 92% den am.
'Speáin torthai suirbhé i Liatrom gur dhúirt 71% as réimse daoine ar fud an chontae sin nach raibh fáil acusan ar sheirbhís banda leathan.
Ni raibh an banda leathan ach ag 23% de dhaoine a ndearnadh suirbhé orthu i Ros Comáin. 'Speánann torthai an tsuirbhé a rinneadh faoi scáth Chomhairle Chontae na Gaillimhe nach raibh ach 28% díobh siúd ar dearnadh suirbhé orthu ar fud an chontae in ann seirbhís Ieathanbhanda a fháil.
Sa mullach air sin, Níl ach cormhlacht amháin ag cur seirbhíse ar fáil i gcuid mhór de na hálteacha a bhfuil fáil ar an leathanbhanda. Fágann seo go mbíonn ar dhaoine glacadh leis sin.
Tá sé ráite i dtorthai an tsuirbhé seo i nGaillirnh freisin go bhfuil an caighdeán ar an gcóras leathanbhanda atá ar fáil an-lag i gcomórtas leis na
caighdeáin mhaithe idirnáisiúnta - an ceathrú cuid den éifeacht, bhfhéidir, atá sna córais mhaithe.
Abraitear freisin nach leithscéal ar bith é go bhfuil go leor de mhuintir na hEireann amuigh faoin tuath. Tá 28% de phobal na hÉireann faoin tuath ach tá mórán an líon
céanna faoin tuath sa bhFrainc, sa Danmhairg agus sa bhFionlainn. Tá fálI i bhfad Éireann nios forleithne ar an gcóras leathanbhanda sna tíortha seo ná atá anseo.
"Ach breathnaigh ar an taobh ó thuaidh den tír seo. Tá an córas leathanbhanda scaipthe acu ar fud chuile orlach de na Sé Chontae," a deir an Comhairleoir Contae,
Seosamh Ó Cuaig, an té a d'iarr go ndéanfai an staidéar seo i gContae na Gaillimhe.
Mhol Ó Cuaig go rachfaí chun cainte leis na Comhairlí Contae i Ros Comáin agus i Liatroim faoin toradh a bhi acusan ina gcontaetha féin. Ansin, a dúirt sé, ba cheart d'ionadaithe as na trí chontae féachaint le cruinniú a shocrú leis an Aire Cumarsálde, Éamon Ryan le súil go bhfaighfí córas ceart banda leathan san iarthar, agus ar fud na tíre.
Mairtin Ó Cathain Foinse 3/2/2002  Baile |
A chorus for broadband
Well, a lot of the voices of spring will not be heard on the broadband
anyhow. This broadband is the new highway in the springtime sky. It's a high-powered telephone line.
It makes working with the computer a lot easier and a lot more effective. And out of 53,000
households in County Galway a total of 54.8 per cent have a computer at home -- that's almost 30,000
homes. And the percentage of homes with computers in the 'lonely planet' outside of the city is
almost as high as it is in the city... 57 per cent in the city and almost 55 per cent outside the
city. But the main case for broadband is that it's good for business and good for jobs. Indeed,
without it nowadays you are at a disadvantage when it comes to most types of work.
Now, for a developed European country we in the Republic of Ireland are weak on broadband. And there
has been an argument in the west of Ireland that the voices from Dublin are not giving the message
clearly. There is a map produced by the Department of Communications that shows -- on paper -- that
there is broadband coverage in much of County Galway. Now a study by the Galway County Council shows
that the map cannot be relied upon 92 per cent of the time. Broadband is much thinner on the ground
than the map would show. Studies in County Leitrim and County Roscommon show the same thing. But
let's go north.
A group including councillors Pádraig Conneely, Seosamh Ó Cuaig, Tom Reilly, and others from the
West Regional Authority went to Belfast last year and saw that the whole of Northern Ireland has
broadband services -- it was an initiative by the British government. The voice of Councillor Michael
Carey could be heard asking jokingly at last week's county council meeting: "Will we bring back the
Brits?" Well... no Michael. But we are kind of "late developers" in the broadband. If we wanted to
be kind to ourselves we could point out that we have come a long way.
A phone in the car boot
Then there was a spring in the number of phones in the countryside in the 1980s and 1990s. Take the
areas of Cill Chiaráin, Carna, Cashel, Recess, and Roundstone in rural west Connemara. In the year
1980 there were 177 telephones in that area -- or 'landlines' as we call them now, to distinguish
them from mobiles. By the start of 2000 there were 1,277 telephones, or landlines, in the area -- a
sevenfold increase. As for the number of mobile phones nowadays -- think of a number! You can be sure
you could pick out most rural areas and find the same thing. It's not an excuse for not having
broadband, but it puts things in some sort of perspective -- it shows we were a poor country until
recently.
Well the voices have sprung up now for fast telephones and internet. There is an old proverb from
the Eastern world that says that "Spring comes and the grass grows all by itself". Things come in
their own time. Well the Chinese seem to have left that philosophy behind now -- most of the time,
anyhow! And the voices of the west must keep clamouring for the good broadband. Then on Sunday
mornings we can listen to the 'Bird Song of Collanamuck' on Galway Bay FM and put things in
perspective in tune with the 'Voices of Spring'.
Mairtín Ó Catháin Galway Advertiser 7/2/2008 |
