Prospective Independent candidate for the Roscommon South Leitrim by-election Tom Crosby has said the news that the National Broadband Scheme is set to end this week is “catastrophic for the people of rural Ireland.”
The state-funded scheme was set up to provide broadband to rural areas that were unable to receive a service through existing phone lines.
It was due to end at midnight on August 25th, leaving up to 45,000 households at risk of a 75 per cent price hike.
The former Mayor of Roscommon says that this news is “yet again another attack on rural communities as broadband is as essential a service in this day and age as other services such as electricity and telephone and small communities have suffered enough.”