A CONFERENCE on challenges facing rural businesses heard yesterday of a girl working overnight in an internet cafe because the company where she was employed did not have access to adequate broadband.
Rural businesses are facing economic problems coupled with a shortage of local services and infrastructure, the national seminar on rural business was told yesterday.
One example illustrated at Irish Rural Link (IRL)’s “Strengthening Rural Business in Challenging Times” seminar in Castlepollard, Co Westmeath was the lack of broadband in rural areas.
IRL chief executive Séamus Boland spoke of one business in Finea, Co Westmeath. The company employs 100 staff and recently had to take extreme action to remain competitive.
“It was taking orders from Japan and employing a girl to work in an internet cafe in the middle of the night in Mullingar (51km away) to download the orders and then travel back to process them,” he explained.
“It’s the kind of ridiculous thing rural businesses find themselves doing in order to stay put and in order to stay committed to the rural fabric of society,” added Mr Boland.
The latest threat to rural business comes in the form of the planned carbon tax, he said.
Martin Smyth, chairman of Irish Rural Link, said rural businesses had to work together and realise the opportunities in difficult times.
“It’s a case of opportunism as well, opportunities will emanate out of all of this,” Mr Smyth said.