“Forget the Government, let’s go to Google,” an exasperated Fine Gael Councillor Eoghan Murphy will tell fellow Dublin city managers on Monday with a view to promoting Dublin as a trial location for state-of-the-art fibre broadband.
Google is launching a new project entitled ‘Google Fiber for Communities‘ and is looking for interested parties to make themselves known.
Murphy will call on the Dublin City Manager to approach Google with a request that Dublin City Centre be included in its ‘Google Fiber for Communities’ project.
He will tell the City Manager that given the Government’s commitment to better broadband and the importance of cutting-edge internet and digital services to the future of the capital, the city council should make a serious effort to have Dublin included as part of this trial.
Speaking on the motion, Murphy said: “We talk a lot about the knowledge economy and the smart economy and about how we need to invest in both to lay the foundations for the country’s recovery. But nothing is happening on the ground.
“We aren’t seeing any investment at all in critical infrastructure. If the government isn’t going to help us then we should help ourselves. We should go out and look for people to invest in us,” Murphy said.
“Google has launched a new initiative to test ultra-high speed broadband and I’m calling on the City Manager to approach Google directly with a request that Dublin City be considered as a possible location for such a trial.
“We need to be proactive. Dublin is going to drive our country’s recovery and we need state-of-the-art communications in place if we are to do that. To make Dublin a better and more attractive place to live and do business.
“Granted, Google’s project is currently aimed at communities in America, but Dublin is the ideal overseas location for a possible expansion of the project given that Google’s European, Middle Eastern and African HQ is located here. It may not be a runner, but imagine if it was – imagine then the potential gains for the city. And if you don’t ask, you don’t get. At the very least we should make our interest known and start a dialogue with Google.”
By John Kennedy
