According to the Government’s website, 40% of marts across the country have a poor broadband service which requires upgrading, as highlighted by Denis Naughten TD.
68 marts across the country can be identified and 19 of these marts are included under the National Broadband Plan to have their service upgraded.
That is according to the independent TD, who conducted a review of the Government broadband website.
“With 40% of marts failing to have decent broadband, then the online-only sales of stock need to be reviewed, particularly with large numbers of weanlings and store cattle coming to market at present.”
“While some marts may be able to manage with inadequate connections, when the access to online databases as well as farmers using Wi-Fi to bid for stock from their cars, this all puts significant pressure on the limited broadband connection speeds.”
“I am also aware of the fact that 47 marts designated as having a good broadband service were struggling with their connections before sales went online, even though these connections will not be upgraded due to their failure to have the broadband database corrected.”
Ringside buyers
He said there needs to flexibility from the Department of Agriculture in terms of buyers having access to sales rings in a socially distanced manner in light of the broadband challenges ‘officially’ faced by 40% of marts.
“This is a point that I put to the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue last Saturday afternoon when the sales system went down.”
Poor broadband connectivity
“I believe that the minister and mart operators need to put a sustainable and robust sales system in place which takes account of the poor broadband connectivity of some mart locations.”
He said what is “really” frustrating is that most marts are in towns where they were supposed to have a broadband connection of at least 30mbps
He warned there will be implications for marts, and other premises, who do not register their poor broadband connection under the National Broadband Plan with the Department of Communications.
“They will lose out on the current measures being taken to upgrade the national broadband network, leaving them at risk of future lockdowns,” concluded Naughten.
